Cryptocurrencies: 100 million dollars stolen from Binance after a hack

Europe 1 with AFP 7:02 p.m., October 07, 2022

Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by volume, claimed on Friday that it was hacked, putting the scale of the theft at around $100 million.

According to Binance, the hackers managed to withdraw a total of 2 million BNB, the cryptocurrency issued by Binance, or about $580 million during Friday.

However, they were only able to exploit a fraction of it, with the majority of the amount immediately blocked.

Thanks to the quick reaction of the people in charge of validating the transactions, "the majority of the funds remained on the address of the hackers", told AFP a spokesperson for Binance, saying that "these funds have not could be transferred".

On the other hand, around 100 million dollars have been stolen and have not yet been able to be recovered.

The amount stolen, immediately frozen 

Earlier in the day, Binance boss Changpeng Zhao, better known by the pseudonym "CZ", had tried to reassure his community of users by saying on Twitter, where he has 7 million subscribers: "The problem is now under control".

"Your funds are safe. We apologize for the inconvenience and will provide further updates accordingly," CZ added.

An exploit on a cross-chain bridge, BSC Token Hub, 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.

— CZ Binance (@cz_binance) October 6, 2022

In a post on the Reddit site, Binance also clarified that of the total amount actually stolen, approximately $7 million had been frozen.

The hackers targeted the BSC Token Hub cross-chain bridge.

A bridge is a service that allows a user to transfer cryptographic tokens from one blockchain to another.

$190 million stolen in August

The Binance Smart Chain (BSC) blockchain to which the bridge targeted by the hackers is linked was suspended after the hack, before being restored a few hours later.

Computer attacks against inter-chain bridges have multiplied in recent months.

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In August, hackers stole the equivalent of $190 million by exploiting a flaw in the Nomad bridge.

According to Chainanalysis, $2 billion was stolen via 13 cross-chain bridge hacks between January and August.

These attacks account for 69% of cryptocurrency thefts in 2022, says Chainanalysis.

“An attractive target for cybercriminals”

Elliptic, another cryptocurrency analyst firm, noted in its quarterly hack report released this week that bridges "tend to accumulate large amounts of locked assets across many blockchains, many of which may not have be no advanced security or audit culture due to their relative obscurity".

This makes bridges "an attractive target for cybercriminals," Elliptic adds.

Experts believe that bridges are particularly targeted by hackers linked to terrorist groups or dictatorial regimes, including North Korea.