BNB Smart Chain's Remarkable 85% Security Triumph in 2023

The BNB Smart Chain (BSC) marked a considerable 85% decrease in financial losses due to security incidents in 2023, compared to $1.1 billion in the previous year. The total losses reported were over $161 million, indicating a major improvement in blockchain security.

This noteworthy reduction in losses is attributed to several strategic security measures implemented by the BNB Chain Core Development Team, including the proactive alert system of AvengerDAO, which played a crucial role in preempting scams and hacks. In 2023, AvengerDAO issued numerous alerts, such as around 3,500 Red Alarm notifications and 330 alert tweets, significantly reducing the impact of potential security threats.

Despite the decline in financial loss, BSC experienced a 44% increase in security incidents year-on-year, with a total of 414 incidents reported in 2023, out of which 315 occurred in DeFi projects. However, the final quarter of 2023 saw a 64% decrease in fiat losses compared to the third quarter. This decline is further backed by a 51% reduction in hack incidents in Q4, dropping from 130 in Q3 to 86 in Q4.

The report categorizes the types of attacks and threats on BSC, with hacks constituting 50.72% of the incidents, closely followed by scams at 49.03%. Scams accounted for $87.9 million in losses, a 54% decrease, whereas hacks led to $73.2 million in losses, marking a 91% decrease.

The AvengerDAO's meter API played a significant role in this achievement by scanning over 1 million unique contract addresses and identifying 35,000 as high risk. Despite some missed opportunities for safeguarding projects, the initiative has been effective in mitigating threats on BSC. Comparing hack values between the two most recent six-month periods, there's been a substantial decline in losses: from over $713 million in the latter half of 2022 to about $34 million in the first half of 2023.

This positive trend in BSC's security landscape is also reflected in its vulnerability statistics. BNB Chain accounted for only 0.9% of the total vulnerabilities in the ecosystem based on TVL in Q1 2023. Furthermore, only around 9% of the estimated 2,000 active projects in the ecosystem were impacted in H1 2023.