Binance, the world’s largest exchange for cryptocurrency, has been a victim of a hack attack earlier this week. According to reports, the hackers managed to get away with $570 million in crypto before the attack was discovered and stopped.
Changpeng Zhao, CEO of Binance, explained on his Twitter that the hackers found a way to exploit the exchange’s cross-chain bridge, BSC Token Hub, and steal the coins. Blockchain bridges are commonly used to transfer cryptocurrency between platforms.
“The issue is contained now. Your funds are safe,” Zhao concluded. “We apologize for the inconvenience and will provide further updates accordingly.”
According to the official announcement, the hackers got away with approximately 2 million BNB tokens, which is Binance’s native cryptocurrency and among the top five coins in market value. Taking this week’s price of BNB token into account, the hackers’ haul was worth around $570 million. The company said that $100 million is considered “unrecovered” while the remainder still sits in the hackers’ digital wallers.
Hack attacks on blockchain bridges have been frequent in the past year. Earlier this year, Ronin Bridge suffered a $615 million hack, while the total losses from blockchain bridge attacks are estimated to be north of $2 billion.