Shang Bing Zhao, CEO of Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, said in a tweet Friday that hackers stole $100 million worth of cryptocurrency from a blockchain linked to Binance.
Reuters quoted Zhang as saying that the tokens were stolen from the “bridge” of the blockchain linked to his company, called “BNB Chain,” known as “Binance Smart Chain” until last February.
Blockchain bridges are tools that transfer cryptocurrencies between different applications that use these currencies, and this bridge ensures the interaction between these applications.
For example, if you own Bitcoin but want to participate in an activity on a network that uses Ethereum and not Bitcoin, a Blockchain bridge allows you to do so without selling your Bitcoin to buy Ethereum for use in this network.
Therefore, Blockchain bridges are essential for interoperability in the Blockchain region.
Separately, BNP Shine said - in a tweet on Twitter - that the hack included $100 million to $110 million of digital tokens, without specifying which token was affected.
She added that her activity was suspended before resuming at around 6:30 am GMT.
.@BNBchain is currently under maintenance.
We will suspend all deposits and withdrawals via BNB chain temporarily until there are further updates.
We apologise for the inconvenience.
Thank you for your patience!
— Binance (@binance) October 6, 2022
And "Block Chain" bridges - the last month - have become an increasing target for theft that is growing in this sector.
Binance is a cryptocurrency trading platform founded by Chinese-Canadian programmer Zhang.
It was initially based in China, but later moved outside of China due to its increasing restrictions on cryptocurrencies.
As of January 2018, this platform has become the largest in cryptocurrency trading globally in terms of trading volume.