Binance Bridge
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anchored·cGCBPW…PSsQSummary
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- 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
Connected Through
14 shared actors · 580 investigationsDistinct actors this investigation shares with others — holders, traders, and named parties. Shared infrastructure (exchanges, pools) is excluded.
- □Ethereumorganization
- □Binanceorganization
- □Arbitrumorganization
- □Polygonorganization
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.
Decision Log
- slot 464357938 · hash FqvuAa9QuVM1J8crfmazUDk8d4cTuLppnNASukKsXo7K
- slot 464357934 · hash EC65c9ve8otreKsTcz8Ye5Ph8vifzzg4ymjh2uem6wPJ
- slot 421042212 · hash 5zuDXojHro7nuRxfQ3Bn11YxiSAViRKjfvae3VtbZVtR
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (3 decisions). 17 of 17 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-sonnet-4-5
generated: 5/4/2026, 2:54:47 AM
last updated: 11/2/2026, 4:17:34 AM
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