Sandbox Cross-Chain Bridge Hacked, $49 Billion in Fake Tokens Created

A major security breach was discovered in The Sandbox's cross-chain bridge on August 22, 2026. An attacker exploited a vulnerability to mint billions of unbacked SAND tokens on Base and BNB Smart Chain.

The attack, which was initially reported by Blockaid, allowed the attacker to generate SAND with no matching reserve locked on Ethereum. The firm estimated that around $49 billion in fake SAND was created across over 400 transactions.

The Sandbox claims that it fully contained the vulnerability and that user wallets were not compromised. However, exchanges Upbit and Bithumb froze SAND deposits and withdrawals due to concerns about a security incident.

The project has promised a compensation scheme for affected participants in the liquidity pools and a full incident report. However, the exact impact of the breach is still unclear, with The Sandbox estimating it at less than 0.01% of total SAND supply, while Blockaid puts it at over $49 billion.