GANA Payment Project Suffers Over $3.1 Million Hack
A decentralized payments protocol called GANA Payment on the BNB Smart Chain has been exploited for more than $3.1 million in digital-asset theft, according to on-chain investigator ZachXBT. The attacker drained funds from GANA’s smart contract, converted 1,140 BNB into a privacy mixer, then bridged assets to ETH where 346 ETH remains dormant. The project’s token collapsed by over 90 percent following the exploit.
The attack involved multiple chains and laundering steps. The stolen assets were first consolidated into a single wallet before being funneled through Tornado Cash on BNB Chain. Assets were then bridged to ETH and moved through Tornado Cash’s ETH deployment. The remaining funds are currently held at an address that has not yet transferred tokens further.
How the breach unfolded
The protocol appears to have operated without public security audits or detailed technical documentation, which may have enabled the exploit. The sequence of consolidation, mixing and cross-chain transfer highlights how attackers exploit fragmented security models across chains. Once assets enter mixers, their traceability sharply declines, complicating recovery efforts.
In this case, 1,140 BNB was moved through Tornado Cash, while 346 ETH remains idle at a separate address. On-chain analysts note that this pattern mirrors recent BNB Chain exploits, where attackers prefer to split transactions across multiple networks to minimize forensic visibility.
Implications for the protocol and broader DeFi ecosystem
The hack underscores vulnerabilities facing smaller DeFi protocols on chains where audits and governance are inconsistent. GANA Payment’s token price dropped sharply following the incident, and liquidity fell as users exited positions. The event adds to a growing tally of security breaches across BNB Chain, where more than $100 million has reportedly been lost to exploits in the past year.
For DeFi platforms, the incident reinforces the need for multi-layered security, including formal audits, real-time monitoring, multisig control of treasury assets and incident response procedures. As attackers continue to exploit cross-chain pathways and privacy tools, protocols without robust defensive measures will remain at heightened risk.
Looking ahead, GANA Payment has announced plans to work with a third-party security provider to review contract code and trace stolen assets. The project has urged users to halt trading activity until further notice and has outlined preliminary measures aimed at strengthening internal controls. Whether recovery efforts will succeed remains uncertain due to the movement of assets through mixers and cross-chain bridges.
The incident serves as a reminder that even smaller projects require enterprise-grade security standards to operate securely within the decentralized finance landscape. Without improved secureguards, similar vulnerabilities may continue to emerge across emerging blockchain ecosystems.
