Sandbox pledges $697K SAND refunds after bridge exploit

- Refund program for users hit by August bridge exploit - Trading restrictions on South Korean exchanges amid volatility concerns On August 27, 2024, The Sandbox announced it will reimburse users affected by a $697,000 exploit that targeted bridged SAND tokens on Base and BNB Smart Chain, and the company said eligible users will receive a 1:1 refund in Ethereum-based SAND tokens. According to Blockworks on August 27, 2024, only holders with SAND bridged to Base or BNB Smart Chain were impacted, while users on Ethereum or Polygon were not affected. Therefore, The Sandbox stated that users who held bridged SAND at the time of the incident can submit claims during a two-week window, which will open within two weeks of the announcement, and the company expects to issue payouts about a month after the claims period closes. In addition, the company traced the exploit to flaws in the token contract setup and has permanently shut down the affected bridge. Meanwhile, South Korean exchanges such as Upbit and Bithumb have restricted SAND trading and warned of increased volatility, and The Sandbox emphasized that only verified accounts with eligible holdings at the time of the exploit will be reimbursed. As of 15:09 UTC on the same day, SAND is trading at $0.043, with 24-hour volume up 4.6%, according to the latest market data.