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Binance Bridge

avoid.net/binance-bridge→10/100·92% conf.
[AI-DRAFTED · AWAITING VERIFICATION][src:defillama]

Auto-generated score, not yet verified against the scoring model. Under review — treat as indicative, not a verdict.

anchored·cGCBPW…PSsQ

Summary

Binance Bridge (BSC Token Hub) was the official cross-chain bridge connecting the BNB Beacon Chain (BEP2) and BNB Smart Chain (BEP20), operated by Binance. On October 6-7, 2022, an attacker exploited a critical flaw in the bridge's IAVL Merkle proof verification logic inherited from Cosmos SDK, forging deposit proofs to mint 2 million BNB (approximately $586 million at time of exploit). Although the BNB Chain was halted by validators to contain the damage — trapping roughly $430 million on-chain — approximately $110–137 million escaped to other networks before the halt took effect.

Connected Entities

15 entities · 60 linked investigations
Organizations
□Ronin Bridge52□Polygon54□Cosmos (ATOM)□Ethereum□ChangeNOW□Fantom (Sonic Labs)□Tether□Arbitrum□Binance□Multichain□Wormhole□Changpeng Zhao□Harmony Bridge□Binance Bridge□Optimism
Relationships
  • Binance Bridge→mentioned with→Ethereum(70%)
  • Binance Bridge→mentioned with→Polygon(65%)
  • Binance Bridge→mentioned with→Multichain(65%)
  • Binance Bridge→mentioned with→Harmony Bridge(60%)
  • Binance Bridge→mentioned with→Binance(80%)
  • Binance Bridge→mentioned with→Optimism(65%)
  • Binance Bridge→mentioned with→Arbitrum(65%)
  • Binance Bridge→mentioned with→Wormhole(60%)
  • Binance Bridge→mentioned with→ChangeNOW(70%)
  • Binance Bridge→mentioned with→Tether(65%)
  • + 43 more
Also appears in
Atomic Wallet Hack·0Wormhole·62Polygon·54requests-secure-v2·0ChipMixer·0Wanchain-Cardano Bridge NIGHT Token Exploit (July 2026)·8Harmony Horizon Bridge·4Ronin Network·22DPRK·0North Korea Lazarus Group — H1 2026 Systematic Crypto Theft Campaign·0+ 50 more

Connected Through

14 shared actors · 595 investigations

Distinct actors this investigation shares with others — holders, traders, and named parties. Shared infrastructure (exchanges, pools) is excluded.

Have evidence about Binance Bridge?

Timeline(12 events)

2019

Binance launches bridge infrastructure connecting Binance Chain and BNB Smart Chain ecosystems.

September 2020

BNB Smart Chain (BSC) launches; BSC Token Hub becomes primary cross-chain bridge for the BNB ecosystem.

6 October 2022

At 18:26 UTC, attacker mints first 1 million BNB via forged IAVL Merkle proof from block 110217401 to address 0x489A8756C18C0b8B24EC2a2b9FF3D4d447F79BEc. Transaction hash: 0xebf83628ba893d35b496121fb8201666b8e09f3cbadf0e269162baa72efe3b8b.

6 October 2022

At 20:43 UTC, attacker mints second 1 million BNB via second forged proof. Transaction hash: 0x05356fd06ce56a9ec5b4eaf9c075abd740cae4c21eab1676440ab5cd2fe5c57a. Total minted: 2 million BNB (~$586M).

6 October 2022

Attacker deposits 900,000 BNB as collateral on Venus Protocol and borrows approximately $147.5M in stablecoins (USDT, USDC, BUSD).

6 October 2022

Attacker bridges stolen stablecoins to Ethereum (~$53M), Fantom (~$57M), Polygon (~$400K), Avalanche, Optimism, and Arbitrum via Stargate Finance and Multichain.

6 October 2022

At approximately 21:35 UTC, all 44 BNB Smart Chain validators coordinate to halt BSC, trapping ~$430M in assets on-chain. Chain halted for approximately 8 hours.

7 October 2022

Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) publicly confirms the exploit and chain halt. Tether and Circle freeze combined $33.5M in USDT and USDC held by the attacker.

7 October 2022

Binance restores cross-chain bridge operations after validators apply hotfix release v1.1.15 patching the IAVL verification flaw.

8 October 2022

Cosmos engineers begin intensive security review of ICS-23 implementation in response to the BSC incident, identifying the broader 'Dragonberry' vulnerability affecting all IBC-enabled Cosmos chains.

12 October 2022

BNB Chain implements Moran Hardfork with permanent IAVL hash-check vulnerability fix.

November 2023

BNB Chain Core proposes forced liquidation of exploiter's Venus Protocol collateral position. USDT and USDC positions force-liquidated to recover partial funds without open-market BNB sell-off.

Provenance & Audit Trail
Anchored on SolanaVerify on-chain17 Wayback Archivessrc:defillama

Decision Log

This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (1 event). 17 of 17 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.

full audit log →version history →

model: claude-sonnet-4-5

generated: 5/4/2026, 2:54:47 AM

last updated: 8/30/2026, 1:16:32 AM

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