Around $100 million in digital assets were stolen in the most recent hack to hit the cryptocurrency sector.
According to a spokesperson for BNB Chain, a blockchain backed by Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, between $100 million and $110 million worth of Binance Coin was taken by hackers attacking the BSC Token Hub, whose operations have, as of press time, been suspended.
BNB Chain was also quick to assure blockchain users that it continues to coordinate with the relevant authorities to freeze any transfer of stolen funds.
Of the total amount of funds taken, around $7 million have already been frozen by authorities.
Binance founder Changpeng “CZ” Zhao took to Twitter to announce that the situation has been contained. He explained that the exploit hit one of the bridges between blockchains. Specifically, this was the cross-chain bridge connecting BNB Beacon Chain (BEP2) and the BNB Chain (BEP20 / BSC).
But while Zhao assured worried users that Binance would cover any funds that could not be recovered from the hackers, the event was enough to sink Binance’s trading value by 3.3% to settle at $285 per token as of mid-morning in Tokyo.
But Binance was not the only crypto to suffer a loss during today’s trading run. The value of Bitcoin dropped by 0.17% during afternoon trading, while novelty crypto Dogecoin registered a loss of around 0.47.
On the other hand, Ethereum appeared to rally during afternoon trading in Asia, racking up an increase of around 0.30% as of 4:55 pm in Tokyo.
Not the First, But Most Likely Not the Last
This was the most recent attack aimed at the already beleaguered global cryptocurrency sector.
Within this year alone, around $2 billion in digital assets has been stolen through a series of crypto attacks, done mainly by groups with links to or located within North Korea. Indeed, cross-chain bridges like the one involved in this most recent incident have become a popular target for these hackers in recent weeks. These bridges are, essentially, platforms through which tokens are moved from one blockchain to another, making them particularly tempting to hackers.
But while Binance is one of the highest-profile cryptos to be hit by such attacks, it hasn’t been the only one. Indeed, the wider sector has experienced a serious rash of hacking incidents of late, which have collectively stripped around $2 trillion off the value of most digital assets.
