•Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced that the crypto exchange had paused withdrawals linked to a recent attack on Ankr.
• Initial analysis suggests that the developer’s private key was hacked, and the hacker updated the smart contract to a more malicious one.
• Binance has frozen about $3 million that hackers moved to their CEX.
• The attacker leveraged the smart contract for the aBNBc token that allowed them to create an infinite amount of this token. This token represents a staked version of Binance’s BNB token that earns rewards on Ankr.
• The number of tokens created is unclear, but some reports indicate that they were able to mint as much as 60 trillion aBNBc tokens. They swapped many of these tokens for stablecoins and began moving them off of Binance Smart Chain and onto Ethereum.
Pausing Ankr
On Wednesday, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao announced that the crypto exchange had paused withdrawals linked to a recent attack on Ankr. Initial analysis suggests that the developer’s private key was hacked, and the hacker updated the smart contract to a more malicious one.
Binance has frozen about $3 million that hackers moved to their CEX. The attacker leveraged the smart contract for the aBNBc token that allowed them to create an infinite amount of this token. This token represents a staked version of Binance’s BNB token that earns rewards on Ankr. The number of tokens created is unclear, but some reports indicate that they were able to mint as much as 60 trillion aBNBc tokens. They swapped many of these tokens for stablecoins and began moving them off of Binance Smart Chain and onto Ethereum.
This latest attack on Ankr highlights the importance of protecting your private keys and being vigilant when it comes to checking smart contracts before you use them.
How the Attack Happened
The attack began when the hacker gained access to the Ankr team’s private key and used it to update the smart contract for the aBNBc token. This allowed them to create an infinite supply of the token. They then swapped many of these tokens for stablecoins and began moving them off of Binance Smart Chain and onto Ethereum.
It’s still not clear exactly how the hacker was able to gain access to the private key in the first place, but this highlights the importance of keeping your keys safe and secure. Once they had access to the key, they were able to exploit a flaw in the smart contract that allowed them to mint an unlimited supply of tokens. They then quickly moved these tokens off of Binance Smart Chain before anyone could notice what was happening.
The Aftermath of the Attack
So far, Binance has frozen about $3 million that was moved to their CEX by the hackers. They are still investigating the full extent of the attack and working on restoring normal operations. In the meantime, they have advised users to be extra vigilant when it comes to checking smart contracts before using them. This is good advice for anyone who uses cryptocurrencies or blockchain-based applications.
Be vigilant
This latest attack on Ankr is a reminder of how important it is to take security seriously when dealing with cryptocurrencies or any other type of digital asset. The hackers were able to gain access to a private key and use it to exploit a flaw in a smart contract, which allowed them to mint an unlimited supply of tokens. They then quickly moved these tokens off of Binance Smart Chain before anyone could notice what was happening. So far, Binance has frozen about $3 million that was moved to their CEX by the hackers, but they are still investigating the full extent of the attack. In light of this incident, Binance has advised users to be extra vigilant when it comes to checking smart contracts before using them. This is good advice for anyone who uses cryptocurrencies or blockchain-based applications.
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