Binance’s BNB Chain was created in 2019 under the name Binance Smart Chain. Like other blockchains, BNB is the platform’s native token, which may be bought, sold, or utilized in games and other apps.

Binance is a digital currency trading platform and a blockchain. After hackers stole from the chain, the network was temporarily frozen. BNB currency valued at roughly $100M was stolen. Binance reported an assault on a cross-chain gateway leading to the BNB Chain it creates.

BSC Token Hub, a “cross-chain bridge,” was compromised, creating more BNB. The vulnerability allows criminals to trick the network bridge into believing they deposited tokens, when they did not. This makes the bridge mint new tokens for the attacker, inflating the supply.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao tweeted. “We have asked that all validators put a pause on BSC for the time being.”

Thirteen cross-chain gateway attacks in 2022 stole $2 billion worth of cryptocurrency. According to data from blockchain startup Chainalysis released in August. In March, $600 million was stolen from a virtual bridge in the crypto-powered video game Axie Infinity. $325 million was taken from the Wormhole system in February.

How Binance The Attack Happened

According to the leading bounty company Immunefi, the attack was triggered by a bridge’s smart contract flaw. It enabled hackers to falsify transactions back to their digital wallets. 

Criminals mined 2 million BNB tokens and tried to empty a BNB wallet with $560 million in value. The attacker had tricked Binance Bridge into sending them a million BNB. The hacker stole about $110 million in coins and moved out of BSC, while $429 million are still in the BNB wallet. 

A corporate blog post said that validators would vote “in the next few days” on whether to employ BNB auto-burn. To retrieve the stolen assets, a method intended to maintain the supply of BNB under 100 million.

Immediately before the breach, the price of BNB dropped by $10. Before settling at roughly $281.

These vulnerabilities illustrate how dependent DeFi platforms are on code for management. And how decentralization may slow down efforts to fix problems in times of crisis. 

Users with tokens can vote on proposed code modifications. They form the community of validators that manages the Binance chain ecosystem.

How Were The Funds Moved From Binance Smart Chain?

Binance said late Thursday that hackers were able to steal BNB tokens by attacking a cross-chain gateway connecting with its BNB Chain. The ability to move tickets from one blockchain to another is enabled through cross-chain bridges.

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao revealed that the attack was on a cross-chain bridge called BSC Token Hub. It led to the creation of phantom BNB tokens. 

Users may transfer their digital assets from one blockchain to another using a cross-chain bridge. Connecting BNB Chain nodes to BNB Beacon Chain nodes (BEP2) is the BSC Token Hub (BEP20 or BSC). Zhao assured customers that their money was secure after Binance requested a suspension of the network.

“As with many bridge designs, there is one central location that houses most of the money that are traveling via the bridge,” Adrian Hetman, tech head of Immunefi’s triaging team, remarked.

How To Prevent Hacks in Blockchain

There are two main reasons cryptocurrency security experts advise against storing digital money on an exchange. If the business is hacked, it risks having all your money disappear. Second, if the trade closes, you may lose your money.

Most Bitcoin and Ether buyers never move their funds from the exchange where they made their first purchase. While digital businesses do their best to avoid theft, even they may be hacked.

Securing a wallet is one of the most acceptable methods to protect a financial investment. Two main categories of bitcoin wallets exist. As for security, the most reliable choice is using cold storage or a cold wallet hardware device. These USB-shaped devices are used to store digital currency physically. There is no way to hack a cryptocurrency stored in a “cold wallet.” 

Every hardware wallet has a private key to access its contents (the coins or tokens). Hardware wallets are very good at preventing digital theft. However, they come with a new kind of vulnerability: If you lose the password to your digital wallet, you will lose everything forever.

The point of crypto is to become your own bank, and users need to take that seriously.

Why You Should Be Your Own Bank

Recognizing the meaning of the expression “be your own bank” is the first step in achieving this goal. It does NOT imply that you are starting a financial institution.

Instead, it represents a mental change that puts you in charge of your financial future.

Possession is the last indicator of ownership. Therefore if someone else has access to your belongings, they technically own them. It’s commonplace in the crypto world, and you’ve probably heard it before. What does it entail to be a “bank” on one’s own? It has a wide range of potential interpretations.

The way you conceptualize banks is one obstacle to accepting this assertion. Your impression of a bank will also depend on your age and prior banking experiences. 

Compared to more established financial systems, cryptography is a relatively new concept. However, crypto’s underlying technology is more sophisticated. Many of its economic notions are lifted straight from the world of banking and finance.

Cryptography transforms a fundamental notion into a protocol or program. This simple idea proposes a decentralized payment system backed by a sovereign asset.

You may indeed act as your bank. Furthermore, it is possible to maintain many types of banking relationships. In one, you work with a conventional bank; in the other, you act as your own bank.

If you use cryptocurrency, banking becomes more of an equal partnership. And all it takes is some cash, an internet connection, and an adventurous spirit to get started.

Sign up for Binance.US at the link attached for a free $10!  

If you enjoyed this article, you may also like the following articles. 

Is Binance Safe?, DeFi Hacks Total Over 1B or Tornado Cash Developer Arrested

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