Leading cryptocurrency exchange Binance is inching closer towards finding the culprit behind the BNB Chain hack.
BNB Chain suffered a massive exploit on October 7, in which a hacker orchestrated an online attack to steal $570 million worth of crypto funds.
However, much of the exploit was thwarted with the help of the exchange's validators, who instantly sprung into action by locking the chain down to prevent the hacker from stealing more crypto funds.
Binance aims to find the culprit behind the BNB Chain hack
In an interview with CNBC's Squawk Box Europe, Binance's CEO, Changpeng Zhao, shared that the exchange is close to "narrowing down the identity of the hacker who recently exploited the exchange's BNB chain."
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CZ stated how the exchange is busy working with global law enforcement agencies to track the hacker down.
He later shared that the agencies had given him some "tips" that could help him identify the real culprit
Actually, in this particular instance, law enforcement gave us some tips about who they think it might be. So we’re actually narrowing down. CZ later added
On October 7, blockchain analytics firm Peckshield reported strange transactional activity on the BNB Chain, which later turned out to be a planned crypto exploit.
The hacker intended to steal $570 million worth of crypto funds, but his attempt to steal was foiled midway by the on-chain validators, who instantly sprung into action by locking the chain down to stop the hacker.
The quick response of the validators was lauded by CZ. However, the hacker managed to get away with $100 million worth of crypto funds.
The blockchain was able to freeze about 80% to 90% of it, so the actual loss of it was much smaller, he said
"Hacktober" continues to wreak havoc in the crypto sector
Per a recent report published by the analytics platform Chainanalysis, crypto hacks have grossed $3 billion across 125 hacks this year.
October has been dubbed as the worst-hit month in terms of crypto hacks, reporting the loss of $718 million worth of crypto funds.
Apart from the BNB Chain exploit, several leading DeFi platforms have reported the theft of funds in the month of October, including the recent Mango Market exploit, Rabby Wallet hack, and TempleDAO attack
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