Sandbox Halts Bridging After Exploit on Base and BNB Chain
Written with artificial intelligence.
The Sandbox has suspended bridging on Base and BNB Smart Chain due to an exploit that allowed the minting of unbacked tokens. While the face value of these tokens reached approximately $49 billion, no actual funds were stolen, and the company confirmed that user wallets remain secure.
Exploit Details
The Sandbox, a leading metaverse and blockchain gaming network, has halted bridging capabilities on Base and the $BNB Smart Chain after discovering an exploit. This vulnerability enabled an attacker to mint unbacked $SAND tokens, resulting in a nominal value of around $49 billion across over 400 transactions. However, this figure does not reflect actual stolen money, as it applies the market price of the $SAND token to tokens created without backing.
Market Impact
Currently, the market capitalization of $SAND is approximately $136 million. The exploit accounted for less than 0.01% of the total 3 billion $SAND token supply, equating to fewer than 300,000 tokens. Blockchain security firm Blockaid identified the exploit while it was active, noting that the attacker hijacked LayerZero delegate permissions to facilitate the minting process.
User and Token Security
The Sandbox confirmed that no user wallets were compromised during the incident. It has disabled all bridging to and from Base and BNB Smart Chain, temporarily preventing the movement or redemption of $SAND on these networks. Users are advised against buying, selling, or trading $SAND due to compromised liquidity. Meanwhile, $SAND tokens on Ethereum and Polygon remain unaffected.
Next Steps
In response to this incident, South Korean exchanges Bithumb and Upbit have suspended $SAND deposits and withdrawals due to suspected security issues. The Sandbox is preparing compensation for users affected by the exploit and plans to publish a technical post-mortem to clarify the event's details.