Sandbox Halts Bridging After $49 Billion Unbacked Token Exploit

The Sandbox, a metaverse and blockchain gaming network, has halted bridging to and from Base and BNB Smart Chain after discovering an exploit that allowed attackers to mint unbacked tokens on those networks.

The attackers used this exploit to bridge as much as $49 billion in unbacked tokens, but this figure does not represent money stolen or available to the attacker. It applies the SAND token's market price to tokens created without backing, far exceeding the liquidity available to sell them.

The company did not define 'impact' or reconcile the figure, but said the exploit represented less than 0.01% of SAND's 3 billion token supply, equivalent to fewer than 300,000 SAND when measured directly against the supply.

Blockchain security firm Blockaid flagged the exploit while it was underway, saying the attacker had hijacked LayerZero delegate permissions through an 'approveAndCall' function and minted unbacked SAND tokens.