Binance restarts TORN deposits on ETH and BNB blockchains

On May 20, 2023, Binance made an announcement on Twitter that “Due to circumstances surrounding the protocol, Binance will temporarily pause $TORN deposits until further notice.”

The exchange has since followed up the suspension with an announcement on May 29, stating that deposits are resumed.

Restoring governance within the TORN DAO

Binance has officially reopened deposits for the token on both the Ethereum (ERC20) network and the BNB Smart Chain (BEP20). The move comes after the successful execution of a proposal aimed at restoring governance within the TORN DAO, prompting the suspension of TORN deposits on both networks since May 21, 2023, at 01:48:40 (UTC).

The restoration of TORN deposits on the Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain networks will enable users to resume their engagement with Tornado Cash. With the recent governance-related hurdles overcome, the TORN community can now fully participate in the ecosystem’s activities.

Moreover, following a careful evaluation, Binance has also decided to include Tornado Cash (TORN) in its exclusive Innovation Zone, effective as of May 30, 2023. Projects chosen for the Innovation Zone undergo rigorous monitoring to track their progress and development closely.

This was established to provide Binance users with a secure trading environment for new and innovative projects, addressing the challenges associated with accessing such tokens primarily through decentralized exchanges (DEXs) or self-managed wallets, which often require advanced capabilities and knowledge.

Recovering from the attack

The governance propoposal comes just shortly after the decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) overseeing the operations and funds of the privacy-focused protocol fell victim to a hack on May 20.

The incident has been attributed to an unidentified attacker or group of attackers who seized control of the DAO, prompting Binance to temporarily suspend TORN deposits.

During the attack, the perpetrator leveraged a malicious proposal that cleverly concealed a code function, granting them fraudulent voting power within the DAO. Exploiting this access, the attacker swiftly withdrew and sold 10,000 votes in the form of TORN tokens.

Moreover, they maliciously minted over 1 million TORN tokens, with an approximate value exceeding $4 million. Responding to the incident, the Tornado Cash community put forth a proposal to revert the changes inflicted by the attacker.

With Binance resuming TORN deposits on the Ethereum and BNB Smart Chain networks following the successful execution of the governance restoration proposal, the Tornado Cash community can gradually regain trust and confidence in the protocol’s operations.

crypto.news reached out to Tornado Cash for comment but the platform has not responded.