Sandbox Halts Base and BNB Chain Bridging After Exploit

The Sandbox has suspended all crosschain bridging for its SAND token on the Base and BNB Smart Chain networks after an attacker exploited a vulnerability to mint billions of dollars worth of unbacked tokens. The incident, disclosed on August 22, 2026, prompted major South Korean exchanges to halt deposits and withdrawals as the project works to contain the breach. The project stated that the underlying SAND locked on Ethereum remains secure and continues to back legitimate bridged tokens. Ethereum and Polygon networks were not affected, and no user wallets were compromised. The Sandbox estimated the actual impact at less than 0.01% of SAND's total supply, a figure that contrasts sharply with initial onchain estimates of the fraudulent tokens created. Security firms Blockaid and PeckShield reported that roughly 49 billion and 14.9 billion SAND, respectively, were minted across hundreds of transactions before the bridge was disabled. However, blockchain forensics indicated that only approximately 14.75 million SAND were actually withdrawn from the Ethereum adapter and converted to about 80 ETH, valued at roughly $675,000 at the time.