Immunefi: BNB Chain Loses $1.64 Billion to Hacks and Rug Pulls

Since its establishment in 2017, the BNB Chain has suffered losses of up to $1.64 billion due to hacks and rug pulls.

Immunefi: BNB Chain Loses $1.64 Billion to Hacks and Rug Pulls. Photo: CryptoSlate

According to a new report from Immunefi, BNB Chain has consistently been a preferred target for hackers over the years.

Since its inception seven years ago, BNB Chain has incurred total losses of $1.64 billion, with $1.27 billion from attacks and $370 million from 228 rug pulls.

A rug pull is a common scam where newly created projects are designed to steal users' money and then disappear permanently. The largest recorded rug pull on BNB Chain was DeFiAI, which evaporated over $40 million in November 2022.

In contrast, Ethereum—the second-largest blockchain and the largest smart contract network—has suffered losses of $3.6 billion, but only 4.4% of these losses were due to rug pulls.

Comparison of losses between BNB Chain and Ethereum. Source: Immunefi

Immunefi's analysis suggests that one of the main reasons BNB Chain is prone to rug pulls is that developers often use forked code. Additionally, the BNB Chain community is frequently attracted by promises of quick profits.

However, these losses have started to decrease following significant upgrades such as ZhangHeng, Plato, and Hertz, which have addressed many vulnerabilities. Since the beginning of the year, BNB Chain has only lost about $38 million, while the entire industry has lost over $336 million (as of the end of Q1 2024).

Comparison of losses between BNB Chain and Ethereum. Source: Immunefi

In the past, BNB Chain has been linked to several major attacks, including the Venus Protocol price manipulation in 2021, which resulted in $200 million in damages, and the Qubit Finance hack in 2022, which led to a loss of $80 million.