Binance's suspected multi-billion dollar hack may have involved attackers manipulating the exchange's transaction-signing infrastructure rather than stealing private keys, according to Blockaid CEO Ido Ben-Natan. Blockaid's preliminary assessment suggests a compromise of the signing system, drawing parallels to the February 2025 Bybit attack.
Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange by trading volume, experienced a significant hack that could impact user trust and market stability. The suspected method of attack, involving manipulation of transaction-signing infrastructure, raises concerns about the security of exchange systems and the potential for similar exploits.
The suspected multi-billion dollar hack of Binance may have involved attackers manipulating the exchange's transaction-signing infrastructure rather than stealing private keys, according to Blockaid co-founder and CEO Ido Ben-Natan. Blockaid's preliminary assessment pointed to "key misuse," where attackers trick or compromise a signing system into authorizing malicious transactions without extracting the underlying private key. Ben-Natan stated that their experience with similar attacks and observations of on-chain activity led to this conclusion. Binance has not confirmed the precise method used in the hack, which resulted in the theft of over $2.5 billion in crypto. Blockaid's on-chain analysis indicated the attacker bundled 50 EIP-7702 authorizations into a single transaction targeting Binance, with the affected account delegated to an unverified sweeper contract that allowed for token and Ether drainage. Ben-Natan drew parallels between this incident and the February 2025 Bybit attack, describing the incidents as "very, very similar."
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