The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, is the latest victim of the ongoing surge of cryptocurrency hacks across multiple platforms.
Immediately after the news of the hack broke out, the value of the financial token BNB went down over 3%. Chaopeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, took to Twitter to explain the current state of the exchange platform, writing, “An exploit on a cross-chain bridge, BSC token hub, resulted in an extra BNB.” We have asked all validators to suspend BSC temporarily. The issue is contained now, and your funds are safe. We apologize for the inconvenience and will provide further updates accordingly.”
A cross-chain bridge is an open-source smart contract that resides on the blockchain that helps users swap coins and transfer them from one block to another.
The hacker was able to deceive the smart contracts to mint funds as if they were his and, after that, was able to withdraw these funds. He was in the process of doing that when Binance noticed the transaction.
The hackers were said to have carted away over 2 million BNB tokens worth about 580 million dollars and were only able to transfer about 100 million dollars to other networks before the remaining tokens were frozen in their crypto wallet.
Although the world is still adapting to cryptosystems and how criminals can be prosecuted, this hack is going to cause a major improvement in how law enforcement handles cybercrime.
Chanpeng Zhao confirmed that more security measures have to be put in place to secure their network and code. We all know that software code is never bug-free and always open to correction and more security. He also said that Binance would launch a new program focusing on training law enforcement and prosecutors in cybercrime.
With all the losses that have been recorded by crypto companies in the past year, do you think blockchain can regain its impenetrability, or is it doomed, and we should instead focus on combating cybercrime?
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Image by Pete Linforth
