Binance Smart Chain Network has suspended activity as fears of a "potential exploit" on the network increase. The impact of the exploit is believed to be a negative $100 million, but growing speculations suggest it could be a lot more.
The exploit was confirmed by the CEO of Binance, Changpeng Zhao, late Thursday. The CEO assured users that their funds were safe, and validators were asked to halt transactions.
According to the records of initial token movements, the hackers had targeted over two million BSC tokens, but the execution didn't amount to the estimate. The hack is said to have affected a quarter of the last BNB burn, estimated at $100 to $110 million.
A Reddit post shared by the BSC network confirmed the hack whilst urging investors to stay cool as operations are underway to resolve the issue.
"We want to confirm that we coordinated with validators to temporarily suspend BSC after having determined an exploit on a cross-chain bridge, BSC Token Hub- which resulted in extra BNB.
We have asked all validators to temporarily suspend BSC. The issue is contained now. Your funds are safe. We apologize for the inconvenience and will provide further updates accordingly.
The Community has already played a pivotal role in assisting and helping freeze any transfers. All funds are safe."
Private Security Expert Believes 2 Million BNB Might Have Been Swept Away
On-chain data revealed that an attacker made away with 2 million BSC tokens from the BSC token hub this afternoon, equivalent to $566 million.
The BSC hack is said to have been facilitated through on-chain activity, including swaps, borrows, and bridges. Stablecoin Tether has reportedly blacklisted the addresses identified in conjunction with the attack.
A private cybersecurity expert Sam Sun with the Twitter username @samczsun, who claims to have inside information about the exploit, gave more details on how the hack occurred.
According to his thread on Twitter, he received the hacker's address from someone who disclosed millions of dollars in transactions.
According to the revelations, the hacker found a way to convince the network to send them one million BNB tokens twice. More information from the thread showed that the hacker found a way to forge proof for a specific block.
Sam Sun recounted the measures that should be taken to reproduce the hack.
BNB Takes a Nosedive
Following the news of the hack, the exchange token of Binance declined massively. BNB went from the $295 range down to $279.