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Binance Bridge

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

1 entities
Organizations
□Binance Bridge
Relationships
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    Timeline(12 events)

    2019-01-01

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

    2020-09-01

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

    2022-10-06

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

    2022-10-06

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

    2022-10-06

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

    2022-10-06

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

    2022-10-06

    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.

    2022-10-07

    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.

    2022-10-07

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

    2022-10-08

    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.

    2022-10-12

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

    2023-11-01

    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-chainsrc:defillama

    Decision Log

    This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain and source URLs are archived via the Internet Archive.

    full audit log →version history →

    model: claude-sonnet-4-5

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

    last updated: 5/20/2026, 6:44:18 PM

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