Binance Hack Shows How One Ethereum Permission Drained $2.5 Billion

Trusted Editorial content, reviewed by leading industry experts and seasoned editors. Ad Disclosure TL;DR Binance hack shows an attacker reportedly used Ethereum’s EIP-7702 authorization feature to drain approximately $2.5 billion from Binance’s Ethereum hot wallet. The attacker gained the ability to move funds without repeatedly requesting individual transaction approvals. The incident forms part of a wider Binance security breach estimated at $6.3 billion. Binance suffered one of the largest cryptocurrency security incidents on record after an attacker exploited an Ethereum authorization mechanism to drain approximately $2.5 billion from one of its hot wallets. The attack targeted a wallet identified as Binance 14 and involved Ethereum’s EIP-7702 functionality, which allows externally owned accounts to temporarily execute smart contract code without migrating to a separate smart contract wallet. According to blockchain analysis, the attacker used a malicious authorization to give a smart contract control over the wallet’s transaction execution. This effectively transformed the exchange’s wallet into an automated fund-draining mechanism. The incident is part of a broader security ...