Seven leading cryptocurrency exchanges have frozen 515 million NIGHT tokens, valued around $9 million, following a security breach on the Cardano-BNB cross-chain bridge operated by Wanchain. The coordinated intervention halted the hacker's attempt to liquidate the stolen assets.
Exchange Actions and Market Impact
The Midnight Foundation, responsible for the NIGHT privacy-focused Layer 1 network, confirmed that Binance, OKX, Kraken, KuCoin, Bybit, Gate, and MEXC took emergency steps to block all movement of the compromised tokens. These platforms blacklisted the attacker’s wallets, suspended NIGHT deposits and withdrawals, and temporarily froze related accounts.
Despite these measures, the hacker managed to sell approximately 290 million NIGHT tokens on decentralized Cardano exchanges, which lack centralized control mechanisms, leading to a price drop of over 30%. The token hit a record low of $0.016 on these platforms before stabilizing.
Technical Details and Network Status
The breach exploited a vulnerability in the TreasuryCheck validator within Wanchain's bridge code, which had been in use for roughly two years. Importantly, the Midnight Foundation emphasized that neither the Midnight network itself nor the Cardano blockchain suffered systemic failures and continue to operate normally.
This incident shows the risks associated with cross-chain bridges, especially when third-party smart contracts are involved. The quick response by major exchanges helped prevent extensive laundering of the stolen funds.
This article is for informational purposes and does not constitute financial advice.
