Flash Loan Attack on Binance Smart Chain, $30 Million Stolen From Spartan Protocol Using BNB

Bhushan Akolkar
May 2, 2021
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While the crypto market has advanced to new innovation and development, it continues to marred with phishing and hacking attacks. Recently, Spartan Protocol – a community-driven platform incentivizing deep liquid pools – reported a fresh attack from online hackers.

As per the information provided by Spartan, the hackers exploited an economic route to siphon $30 million worth of funds from the Spartan pool. To overcome this act, the attackers have reportedly used $61 million worth of Binance Coins (BNB), the native cryptocurrency of the Binance Smart Chain (BSC).

Sadly, crypto scams continue to rock the fastly evolving crypto space. Spartan, however, has said that it has been working with the Binance team to bring a solution to this matter and recover the stolen funds.

Flash Loan Attack On Binance Smart Chain

The blockchain security and data analytics firm PackShield did some root cause analysis on the matter. The firm noted that the “incident was due to a flawed liquidity share calculation in the protocol”. This allowed the hackers to exploit the protocol and drain assets from its pools. In a brief summary, the blockchain security firm explained:

“This incident was due to a flawed logic in calculating the liquidity share when the pool token is burned to withdraw the underlying assets. In particular, the specific hack inflates the asset balance of the pool before burning the same amount of pool tokens to claim an unnecessarily large amount of underlying assets. The consequence of this attack results in more than $30M loss from the affected pool.”

As china’s popular crypto analyst Wu Blockchain explains, this is the first-of-its-kind flash loan attack on the Binance Smart Chain. Back in September 2020, the BSC imitating Syntetix Project was hacked as it landed on the Binance Exchange.

After attaining an all-time high of $641 earlier today, the BNB price has dropped 1.1% as of writing this story. At press time, BNB was trading at a price of $616 with a market cap of $95 billion.

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Why Trust CoinGape

CoinGape has covered the cryptocurrency industry since 2017, aiming to provide informative insights Read more…to our readers. Our journal analysts bring years of experience in market analysis and blockchain technology to ensure factual accuracy and balanced reporting. By following our Editorial Policy, our writers verify every source, fact-check each story, rely on reputable sources, and attribute quotes and media correctly. We also follow a rigorous Review Methodology when evaluating exchanges and tools. From emerging blockchain projects and coin launches to industry events and technical developments, we cover all facets of the digital asset space with unwavering commitment to timely, relevant information.

About Author
About Author
Bhushan is a seasoned crypto writer with over eight years of experience spanning more than 10,000 contributions across multiple platforms like CoinGape, CoinSpeaker, Bitcoinist, Crypto News Flash, and others. Being a Fintech enthusiast, he loves reporting across Crypto, Blockchain, DeFi, Global Macros with a keen understanding in financial markets. 

He is committed to continuous learning and stays motivated by sharing the knowledge he acquires. In his free time, Bhushan enjoys reading thriller fiction novels and occasionally explores his culinary skills. Bhushan has a bachelors degree in electronics engineering, however, his interest in finance and economics drives him to crypto and blockchain.
Investment disclaimer: The content reflects the author’s personal views and current market conditions. Please conduct your own research before investing in cryptocurrencies, as neither the author nor the publication is responsible for any financial losses.
Ad Disclosure: This site may feature sponsored content and affiliate links. All advertisements are clearly labeled, and ad partners have no influence over our editorial content.