The world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, Binance, was robbed of cryptocurrency worth the sum of $100 million by fraudsters, the company said on Friday.
Binance CEO, Changpeng Zhao, stated that “an exploit” in the system resulted in increased production of the exchange’s dedicated currency, adding, “The current impact estimate is around $100m.”
It is one of the largest cryptocurrency thefts in history, though it pales in comparison to the massive heist of more than $500 million from the Axie Infinity blockchain game earlier this year.
Zhao described the theft as “an exploit on a cross-chain bridge, BSC Token Hub,” assuring customers that the problem had been remedied.
“The issue is contained now. Your funds are safe. We apologise for the inconvenience and will provide further updates accordingly,” he wrote.
Scammers are increasingly taking advantage of flaws in “cross-chain bridges,” the medium through which investors transfer assets from one blockchain to another.
Blockchains are digital ledgers that store transaction details — bitcoin is the most well-known, but there are thousands more.
According to the Reddit exchange, the amount taken was between $100 and $110 million, with $7 million already retrieved.
Bridges were also used in the Axie Infinity hack and a heist on crypto firm Nomad last month worth nearly $200 million.
Bridge exploits generated approximately $2 billion $2 billion in thefts this year already, according to Chainalysis, a crypto analysis firm’s report in August.