Upbit Warns, Bithumb Suspends SAND After 500M+ Token Mint Exploit on Base
Highlights
- An attacker gained arbitrary minting rights on The Sandbox's Base contract, creating roughly 14.9 billion SAND, far above its 3-billion Ethereum supply.
- Actual losses were smaller: about 14.75 million SAND drained from the Ethereum OFT Adapter, netting the attacker around 80 ETH ($675,000).
- Upbit issued a trading caution and Bithumb suspended SAND deposits/withdrawals, while the project's multisig zeroed LayerZero peers to isolate Base.
South Korea’s two largest crypto exchanges moved first. On August 22, 2026, Upbit issued a trading caution, and Bithumb suspended SAND deposits and withdrawals after on-chain alerts flagged a suspected exploit.
The said exploit happened on The Sandbox’s Base network deployment. Minutes later, blockchain security firm PeckShield confirmed the scale of the breach.
According to data made public, approximately 14.9 billion SAND tokens were minted across two addresses. The figure dwarfed the token’s entire 3-billion supply on Ethereum mainnet.
From 500 Million to 14.9 Billion: How the SAND Exploit Unfolded on Base
The first alerts showed more than 500 million SAND minted on Base. That number kept climbing.
An attacker had gained arbitrary token-minting permissions on the SAND contract deployed on Base, a LayerZero Omnichain Fungible Token (OFT) configuration that allows cross-chain token movement.
On Ethereum, the same contract address functions as an OFT Adapter, holding the real, locked L1 SAND that backs cross-chain deployments.
Blockchain forensics account BlockWatchdog later provided a detailed breakdown: the attacker drained approximately 14.75 million SAND from the Ethereum adapter in under a minute.
🔴 THE SANDBOX / SAND
PeckShield reported 14.9B SAND minted on Base. On-chain it is 329.24 trillion — 22,000x more.
But the mint was never the theft. Ethereum's adapter went from 14,769,723 SAND to 0.0056.
SAND on Base is a LayerZero OFT. The same address on Ethereum is the…
— BlockWatchdog (@BlockWatchdog) August 22, 2026
Realized proceeds from token sales came to roughly 80 ETH, or about $675,000.
The gap between the headline figure and the actual loss reflects the structure of the attack. Minting tokens on Base does not create new Ethereum-native SAND.
Still, the sheer volume of unbacked tokens flooding Base created immediate market risk. PeckShieldAlert confirmed the 14.9B figure via X.
#PeckShieldAlert Seems like The @TheSandboxGame ($SAND) got exploited. 14.9B $SAND minted across 2 addresses: 0xAbE0…4D22 & 0x638C…F296 pic.twitter.com/a5Jgym87gR
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) August 22, 2026
The Sandbox is a Animoca Brands subsidiary that raised $93 million in a 2021 funding round. The project has not yet issued a public statement on the root cause.
The project’s multisig subsequently zeroed the LayerZero peers for Ethereum and BSC, effectively isolating Base.
Ethereum mainnet supply remained capped at 3 billion SAND and was not inflated.
This kind of cross-chain token risk mirrors what recently hit another on-chain project, MANTRA’s RWA Chain Halts Network amid Attack Attempt, where a network halt and sharp price reaction followed a suspected security incident.
South Korea’s sharp response here also reflects the regulatory momentum building across Asia, including BitGo Korea Winning the First Foreign VASP License in South Korea.
What SAND Investors and Traders Should Watch Next
Investors face two separate risks. First is secondary-market pressure: even unbacked minted tokens can reach exchanges and depress price.
Second is dilution uncertainty until The Sandbox officially confirms whether a burn or recovery plan is in place.
Upbit’s caution and Bithumb’s suspension remain active. Traders should monitor both exchanges for any update on trading resumption.
The Sandbox team’s official account, @TheSandboxGame, had not issued a statement at the time of writing.
This incident adds to a growing body of evidence that cross-chain token deployments carry structural risks.
Franklin Templeton’s SEC Clearance for Funds to Hold Tokenized Assets signals that institutional appetite for on-chain assets is rising.
Yet incidents like this remind the market that bridge and OFT infrastructure security must match that ambition.
Meanwhile, broader crypto markets have shown resilience. Bitcoin Hit $78K, Flipping Meta to Rank 13th Largest Global Asset, underscoring that token-specific shocks do not always translate into sector-wide selloffs.
Stay updated with our crypto ICOs calendar featuring the most popular initial coin offerings.
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