A brand new research by Bybit’s Lazarus Safety Lab has revealed that 16 main blockchain networks can freeze customers’ crypto on-chain. This functionality permits blockchain foundations or validators to step in and limit transactions, thereby difficult the core precept of decentralization. Whereas these freezing mechanisms are sometimes employed to forestall hacks, and different safety dangers, additionally they increase considerations about management, transparency, and the potential reintroduction of centralized authority in decentralized networks. Bybit has disclosed that its analysis report is the primary large-scale investigation to determine which blockchains possess freezing capabilities and the way they function.
Bybit Exposes Blockchains With Crypto-Freezing Powers
In a Press Launch, Bybit launched a brand new analysis, unveiling blockchains with fund freezing mechanisms and analyzing the impression these capabilities have within the DeFi house. The research analyzed a complete of 166 totally different blockchain networks and located that 16 presently possess crypto freezing powers, whereas 19 may assist comparable capabilities sooner or later.
To hold out this analysis, Bybit’s Lazarus Safety Lab workforce utilized an AI agent to filter blockchains via in-depth handbook code critiques, as most networks don’t overtly doc these options.
The analysis workforce categorized the freezing capabilities of the 16 blockchain networks into three principal mechanisms:
Hardcoded Freezing: It’s embedded straight in blockchain’s core code, seen in networks like Chiliz (CHZ), Viction (VIC), XDC Community (XDC), Binance Coin (BNB), and VeChain (VET).
Configuration-based Freezing: Managed via validator or basis settings, present in Concord (ONE), Havah (HVH), SUPRA, APTOS (APT), EOS, Oasis (ROSE), WAX (WAXP), SUI, LINEA, and WAVES.
On-chain Freezing: Executed through system-level contracts, current in blockchains like Huobi ECO Chain (HECO).
Bybit has reported that fund freezing happens when a blockchain locks a consumer’s property with out their consent. They spotlight that these capabilities give these networks a degree of management much like that of conventional banks. The workforce has additionally emphasised that the analysis goals to offer higher transparency on blockchains whereas laying the groundwork for future research and threat assessments within the digital asset trade.
Actual Instances Of Blockchain Fund Freezing
Bybit’s Lazarus Safety Lab workforce has additionally highlighted real-world incidents the place crypto freezing was used to guard customers and mitigate losses. Notably, in 2025, the SUI Basis froze $162 million in property following the Cetus Protocol hack in Could, which resulted in a lack of over $220 million. Following this, Aptos added blacklisting capabilities to its community.
In 2022, the BNB Chain used hardcoded blacklists to include a $570 million bridge exploit, stopping the attacker from accessing the funds. Notably, in 2019, VeChain set an early precedent by freezing funds after a $6.1 million breach. In the meantime, Cosmos’s modular account design could enable comparable interventions sooner or later.
These instances display how fund-freezing capabilities can act as emergency instruments throughout large-scale safety incidents. Bybit factors out that though centralization stays a priority, many networks are implementing sensible security measures, even when they problem the precept of full decentralization, which is the core tenet of blockchain know-how.
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