DeFiPunk'd

Binance staked ETH

Liquid Staking

TVL $7.3B
Type Liquid Staking
Chains Ethereum, Binance
View on DeFiLlama ↗
Control criteria
Upgradeability Upgradeable Bug bounty bugcrowd.com Governance forum Docs binance.com
About

Binance staked ETH (wBETH) is a liquid staking token representing ETH staked on the Ethereum beacon chain through Binance. Users deposit ETH and receive wBETH, which accumulates staking rewards through an increasing exchange rate. Redemptions convert wBETH back to ETH subject to daily quotas managed by Binance.

Risk analysis

One card per dimension, sorted by severity. Only Verifiability and Autonomy carry automated signals in Phase 0. See methodology for scope.

Audit a dimension yourself · DEFI@home Contribute an LLM-run assessment — any model, any dimension. Three agreeing runs merge automatically into the public record.

DEFI@home is a distributed audit network modeled on SETI@home: instead of CPU cycles, it crowdsources LLM reasoning. Paste a slice prompt into Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, or any browsing-capable model, and submit the JSON output as a pull request. The quorum bot merges it once ≥3 independent runs (from different models) reach the same grade — no single model, and no single contributor, can move the needle alone. How it works →

  • Address discovery 12 addresses on file · 1 run Submit run ↗
  • Verifiability Unverified Submit run ↗
  • Control Submit run ↗
  • Ability to exit 1/3 submitted Submit run ↗
  • Autonomy Unverified Submit run ↗
  • Open Access Unverified Submit run ↗
  • Audit all 5 dimensions · one prompt Submit run ↗
  1. Verifiability tentative
    Open source + 3 audits

    Protocol publishes a GitHub repository and has at least one audit on record. This is a coarse Phase-0 signal only: auditor reputation, scope, and post-audit review coverage are not yet weighted.

    Run your own prompt Submit run ↗
  2. Control tentative 2/2 models agree AI-only 0/2 with chat share link
    wBETH is an upgradeable proxy whose admin and owner are both Binance-controlled EOAs with no timelock, multisig, or governance — a single key can replace the contract implementation or pause/blacklist users instantly.
    Verdict

    Choosing red because the proxy admin is a single EOA (0xA3eE…) that can replace the implementation of the fund-holding wBETH contract with zero timelock, no multisig, and no on-chain governance. This is T1 blast radius reachable with no delay by a single key. The owner EOA (0x099d…) compounds this with pause, blacklist, and oracle-change powers. While Binance's reputation provides off-chain comfort, on-chain the contract grants maximal unilateral authority to individual private keys — the rubric strictly requires red for T1 reachable with no timelock by a single EOA.

    Steelman argument
    Steelman argument A single Binance-controlled EOA can instantly upgrade the wBETH implementation contract (which holds user ETH) or pause/blacklist users — T1 powers with zero timelock and no multisig.
    Evidence (7)
    C1
    The wBETH proxy (0xa2E3…) owner() returns 0x099d699C07Bbc8eE6eB5703746063E04B2aA62A7, which also holds the pauser, blacklister, and masterMinter roles. The proxy admin() returns 0xA3eE6926edcce93BacF05F4222c243c4d9F6d853. Both addresses have no verified contract ABI on Etherscan or Sourcify, and the LlamaRisk report confirms they are Binance-controlled EOAs.
    C2
    The wBETH contract uses a ZeppelinOS AdminUpgradeabilityProxy pattern. The proxy admin (0xA3eE…) can call upgradeTo(address) and upgradeToAndCall(address,bytes) to replace the implementation contract at any time with no delay. Current implementation is 0x9E021c9607bD3ADB7424D3b25a2D35763ff180BB (WrapTokenV3ETH).
    C3
    There is no execution path with any delay. The proxy admin EOA can directly call upgradeTo on the proxy contract. The owner EOA can directly call pause(), updateExchangeRate(), updateOracle(), updateOperator(), updateEthReceiver(), blacklist(), configureMinter(), transferOwnership() — all with zero delay. No timelock, no governor, no voting contract exists in the execution path.
    C4
    No multisig is present anywhere in the control hierarchy. Both the proxy admin (0xA3eE…) and the owner/pauser/blacklister/masterMinter (0x099d…) are unverified addresses with no ABI — confirmed as EOAs by the LlamaRisk assessment. The operator (0x2B59…) and oracle (0x8172…) are separate addresses but also not verified as contracts with governance features.
    C5
    No on-chain governance exists. There is no Governor, GovernorBravo, OZ Governor, Aragon Voting, or any token-weighted voting mechanism. Binance staked ETH is a centralized exchange product with no governance token.
    C6
    The pauser role (0x099d…) can call pause() to halt all transfers, minting, and burning. This is held by the same EOA as the owner — there is no separate emergency guardian with scoped or time-limited powers.
    C7
    T1 — FUND-CRITICAL: The proxy admin EOA (0xA3eE…) can call upgradeTo() to replace the implementation of the contract that holds user-deposited ETH and minted wBETH tokens. This enables arbitrary code changes including fund drainage. The owner EOA (0x099d…) can pause withdrawals via pause(), blacklist addresses via blacklist(), and change the exchange rate oracle via updateOracle() to an attacker-controlled source. All T1 functions are executable instantly by a single EOA with zero delay.
    Why is this consensus tentative?
    • weak consensus margin
    • only 0/2 sources have a public chat share link
    • total support weight 0.64 below confidence floor (1.5)

    A fresh independent run can strengthen (or overturn) the verdict.

    Run your own prompt Submit run ↗
    Sources claude-opus-4-6 (autorun) no url claude-sonnet-4-6 (autorun) no url View raw submissions ↗
  3. Ability to exit 1/3 model submitted
    Single Binance-controlled address holds uncapped pause power over withdrawals; redemptions subject to platform-managed daily quotas without on-chain enforcement
    Tentative grades
    • claude-sonnet-4-5 (autorun) red

    No quorum yet — verdict and steelman hidden until ≥3 models agree.

    Evidence (7)
    E1
    Primary exit function is requestWithdrawEth(uint256) on contract 0xa2E3356610840701BDf5611a53974510Ae27E2e1. Standard ERC-20 transfer and transferFrom functions also available. Burn function exists but requires user action.
    E2
    The contract includes pause() and unpause() functions. Currently paused() returns false at block 25025843. The ABI shows these functions are nonpayable state-changing methods, indicating they gate user operations.
    E3
    The pauser role is held by 0x099d699C07Bbc8eE6eB5703746063E04B2aA62A7, which is also the owner, blacklister, and masterMinter. This address has no verified ABI on Etherscan, preventing determination of whether it is an EOA or multisig. No time cap on pause duration is visible in the contract code.
    E4
    No separate emergency vs governance pause mechanism detected. The contract exposes a single pause/unpause pattern with the same actor (0x099d699C07Bbc8eE6eB5703746063E04B2aA62A7) controlling both.
    E5
    The Binance website states there is a daily redemption quota per user based on 15-day average holdings, limited by Ethereum network processing. The website warns redemption may take several days. However, no on-chain enforcement of this queue is visible in the contract ABI—the queue appears to be managed off-chain by Binance.
    E6
    No on-chain escape hatch or forced-exit mechanism for adversarial scenarios. Users can trade wBETH on secondary markets (Binance spot market) as an alternative exit path, but this introduces price risk and reliance on market liquidity.
    E7
    Exit functions (requestWithdrawEth, transfer, transferFrom) are standard on-chain methods callable directly via Etherscan or any web3 wallet. No frontend dependency for basic exit, though the off-chain redemption queue is managed by Binance infrastructure.
    Why is this slice uncertain?
    • only 1 of 3 model submissions on record — quorum requires ≥3 agreeing models

    A fresh independent run can establish (or overturn) a verdict.

    Run your own prompt Submit run ↗
    Sources claude-sonnet-4-5 (autorun) no url View raw submissions ↗
  4. Autonomy tentative
    Validator set reduces autonomy

    Liquid staking and restaking protocols hand solvency to an external validator set with slashing dynamics they do not control. At Phase 0 this is a category-level heuristic; a real Autonomy assessment (oracles, fallbacks, governance-mutable dependencies) arrives with onchain review.

    Run your own prompt Submit run ↗
1 dimension not yet assessed (Open Access)
  1. Open Access unknown Unverified
    Not yet assessed

    Whether the protocol depends on privileged operators, whitelists, geo-restrictions, or off-chain infrastructure. This is not a signal DeFiLlama carries in a usable form; crawler-based detection lands in a later phase.

    No model has graded this dimension yet. Run the slice prompt through any LLM and submit the JSON — once ≥3 independent runs agree, the quorum bot merges the verdict here.

    Submit run ↗

Stage

Preview of the Phase-3 maturity framework. DeFiPunk'd will adopt DeFiScan v2's stages verbatim; the section is rendered below in its intended shape so the structure is visible today.

Binance staked ETH has not yet been assessed under the DeFiScan v2 stage framework.
The walkaway test is the central criterion. Once stages land, protocols reach Stage 1 only if users can exit in the presence of malicious operators even when the emergency council disappears.
Scope of assessment
Stages are assessed per-protocol against DeFiScan v2's criteria: governance structure, upgradeability path, timelock durations, emergency-council scope, and the walkaway test. The analysis depends on onchain discovery (roles, owners, timelocks) and deeper review of deployed contracts — neither of which DeFiPunk'd automates at Phase 0.
Stage 0 requirements pending
Governance is largely off-chain, contracts are upgradeable with short or no timelock, and the protocol depends on a multisig or team with full discretion. At Phase 0 DeFiPunk'd does not automatically evaluate these; the assessment lands with crawler-based onchain discovery.
Stage 1 requirements pending
Users can exit or opt out on their own terms even if the team disappears. Upgrades run through a meaningful timelock with an emergency security council clearly scoped. The walkaway test is the headline criterion.
Stage 2 requirements pending
Protocol is fully permissionless and immutable, or upgrades require a supermajority of token holders with a long timelock and no emergency override. This is the terminal stage of the DeFiScan v2 framework.
Learn more about DeFiScan v2 stages →
Stages are an opinionated assessment of maturity, not a rating of security or safety. A protocol can sit at Stage 2 and still carry substantial technical or economic risk; the framework exists to incentivize decentralization, not to rank protocols.

Contract surface

Every contract in scope for this protocol — pooled from DeFiLlama's TVL adapter (mechanical) and DEFI@home discovery submissions (LLM-curated). Verified-source flags come from Etherscan + Sourcify; owner / multisig metadata is read on-chain when available. Reviewer audit context, not a slice score. A lending protocol's adapter set will list third-party collateral tokens alongside its own contracts; attribution is the grader's job.

  • 11addresses
  • 2verified source
  • 1proxies

TVL adapter pinned at 683d369. Sourcecode fetched 2026-05-06. Control fetched 2026-05-07.

Binanceother (deployer EOA labelled Binance: Deployer 5)0x86fd…8801discoveryfactory
Binanceother (wBETH implementation WrapTokenV1BSC, inactive since 2023-05-10, audit-era)0xa77e…08eddiscovery
Binanceother (wBETH implementation WrapTokenV2BSC, active on BSC since 2023-09-12)0xfe92…b42adiscovery
Binancetoken (wBETH proxy, ZeppelinOS AdminUpgradeabilityProxy, same address as Ethereum)0xa2e3…e2e1discoveryfactory
bscBEP20Ethereum0x2170…33f8TVL
bscFiatTokenProxy0xa2e3…e2e1TVLproxy
ethereumnull0x0000…0000TVL
Ethereumother (wBETH implementation WrapTokenV3ETH, active since 2024-11-22)0x9e02…80bbdiscoveryguardian
Ethereumother (wBETH implementation, inactive on Ethereum since 2024-11-22; still active on BSC as WrapTokenV2BSC)0xfe92…b42adiscovery
Ethereumtoken (wBETH proxy, ZeppelinOS AdminUpgradeabilityProxy)0xa2e3…e2e1discoverytoken
Ethereumvault (hardcoded ETH staking vault address referenced in WrapTokenV3ETH moveToStakingAddress, derived from source)0x7997…0196discoveryvault

Protocol Info

Links

[defillama] Source: DeFiLlama [:] Source: DEFI@home quorum
Twitter
@binance

Security

[:] Source: DEFI@home quorum
Audits
1 audit
Security contact
https://www.binance.com/en/support/securityreport

Provenance

[defillama] Source: DeFiLlama [:] Source: DEFI@home quorum
Review status
listed
Updated
2026-06-02 13:51 UTC