The Sandbox has paused its SAND bridge on Base and BNB Smart Chain (BSC) after detecting a vulnerability that allowed an attacker to mint unbacked tokens on both networks. According to an X post by The Sandbox, the project confirmed the incident on August 22, 2026, and reports it is contained; bridging to and from Base and BSC is currently disabled to isolate the affected SAND supply.
The Sandbox Contains SAND Bridge Exploit
The Sandbox said its team identified and addressed a vulnerability in the SAND cross-chain bridge on Base and BNB Smart Chain. According to the project’s official announcement, the impact of the incident is “minimal,” representing less than 0.01% of the total SAND supply.
The issue occurred at the bridge layer, where tokens are typically locked on the native chain before an equivalent amount of tokens is minted on the destination chain. When this mechanism is exploited, an attacker can generate wrapped tokens without corresponding backing assets.
The Sandbox expanded SAND to BNB Smart Chain and Base in 2024 via LayerZero to enable token movement across multiple networks rather than concentrating solely on Ethereum and Polygon.
Following the discovery of the incident, The Sandbox disabled the SAND bridge to and from Base and BSC, leaving tokens on both networks isolated during the investigation. The project has not yet provided a timeline for reopening the bridge and stated it will release a technical post-mortem later.
Unbacked SAND Minted on Base and BSC
According to The Sandbox, the attacker was able to mint unbacked SAND on Base and BSC. These tokens were created on the affected chains without being backed by locked SAND on Ethereum.
According to PeckShield, approximately 14.9 billion SAND was abnormally minted across two addresses during the incident. At a SAND price of around $0.045 at the time, this token quantity held a massive nominal value, but should not be viewed as actual financial loss since the bridge was disabled and liquidity on the affected networks was constrained.
#PeckShieldAlert Seems like The @TheSandboxGame ($SAND) got exploited. 14.9B $SAND minted across 2 addresses: 0xAbE0…4D22 & 0x638C…F296 pic.twitter.com/a5Jgym87gR
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) August 22, 2026
The Sandbox warned users not to buy, sell, or trade SAND on Base and BSC, as liquidity on both networks has been compromised. With the bridge currently disabled, SAND on these two chains remains isolated and cannot be redeemed through the official bridge.
Ethereum and Polygon SAND Remain Unaffected
The Sandbox affirmed that SAND on Ethereum and Polygon remains unaffected by the incident. The project also noted that no user wallets were compromised, and holders on these two networks do not need to take urgent action.
According to The Sandbox, the SAND locked on Ethereum backing the bridged tokens remains fully intact. This indicates that the incident was localized to the bridge on Base and BSC rather than the underlying token contract or user wallets.
CoinGecko data at the time of reporting showed SAND trading around $0.0464, up approximately 16.9% over 7 days but down slightly by 0.7% over 24 hours. The token had a market capitalization of around $136.3 million, a 24-hour trading volume of approximately $4.16 million, a circulating supply of about 2.938 billion SAND, and a total supply of 3 billion SAND.
SAND Price Chart (1H). Source: TradingView
Short-term price fluctuations occurred as CoinGecko also displayed a warning regarding abnormal minting activity related to SAND on Base. With the bridge exploit, key areas to monitor now include determining the scope of unbacked tokens, managing liquidity on Base and BSC, and the timing of The Sandbox’s technical post-mortem release.
Exchanges and LPs Face Follow-Up Measures
Bithumb was among the first exchanges to suspend SAND deposits and withdrawals following the security advisory from The Sandbox. According to the exchange’s announcement, deposit and withdrawal operations for SAND were halted starting August 22, 2026, after noting security issues associated with the token.
The suspension of deposits and withdrawals does not mean spot trading of SAND across all markets has ceased, but it may restrict the ability to move tokens between exchanges and on-chain wallets during the investigation. This is a common precautionary measure when exchanges need to avoid receiving tokens originating from affected networks or bridges.
On the on-chain liquidity side, The Sandbox stated it is taking a pre-incident snapshot and preparing a compensation plan for eligible users in impacted liquidity pools. The project has not yet announced specific eligibility criteria, payout schedules, or compensation calculation methodologies.
This plan will be a crucial part of the post-incident recovery process, particularly for LPs on Base and BSC. If pools absorbed unbacked SAND or experienced asset imbalances during the exploit, the pre-incident snapshot can help identify the affected user group.
What to Watch Next
The Sandbox has not announced a reopening date for the SAND bridge on Base and BSC. The project stated it will release a full incident report and a detailed technical post-mortem upon completing its investigation.
Key points remaining to be clarified include the root cause of the vulnerability, how the unbacked SAND minted will be handled, and actual economic loss, if any. While PeckShield flagged approximately 14.9 billion SAND abnormally minted, this figure reflects the generated token quantity rather than assets drained from the system.
The Sandbox has also yet to detail the compensation plan for LPs, including eligibility criteria, snapshot timestamps, and processing schedules. Pending new updates, the project continues to advise users against trading SAND on Base or BSC.
