Crypto Exchanges
By Dan Saada
1 / 15
How the ASTEROID Trade Went Down. Blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain pieced together what happened.
2 / 15
CZ Calls It Out, Legal Action Follows. Binance founder Changpeng Zhao — better known as CZ — didn't stay quiet either.
3 / 15
What This Means for Crypto Company Security. The crypto industry has wrestled with insider risk for years. It's not a new problem.
4 / 15
BNB Chain is taking a former employee to court. The accusation: using a company-owned wallet to quietly launch a memecoin, scoop up nearly 80% of its supply, and walk away with…
5 / 15
The wallet at the center of it all wasn't some obscure internal tool. Per BNB Chain, it was originally set up for a video tutorial — a demonstration meant to show users how to…
6 / 15
796.7 million tokens. Bought through four freshly created wallets.
7 / 15
Blockchain analytics platform Lookonchain pieced together what happened. According to their on-chain analysis, the former employee deployed a memecoin called Asteroid Shiba —…
8 / 15
Then came the sell-off. Lookonchain says 718.8 million of those tokens were dumped, generating 1,103 BNB.
9 / 15
BNB Chain moved fast to separate itself from the token. The company said flat out that it didn't create, authorize, or promote Asteroid Shiba, and that it has no control over the…
10 / 15
Binance founder Changpeng Zhao — better known as CZ — didn't stay quiet either. He called the former employee a "scammer" and told users to "Stay SAFU," which is Binance's…
11 / 15
Related: Base Processes 187.8 Million Payments as Rivalry with Robinhood Chain Intensifies
12 / 15
BNB Chain is now in the middle of legal proceedings against the individual. No details on the specific charges or jurisdiction have come out yet.
13 / 15
What's not unclear is the core of the problem: a seed phrase that should have been rotated or invalidated when the employee left wasn't. Seed phrases are essentially master keys.
14 / 15
The crypto industry has wrestled with insider risk for years. It's not a new problem. Exchanges, protocols, and blockchain companies often move fast and sometimes let internal…
15 / 15
BNB Chain's situation is a fairly stark example of what that gap can cost. The wallet was a tutorial wallet. Low stakes by design.
The Currency Analytics
Want the full story?