New report from Lazarus security lab bybit showed that many large blockchains are not fully decentralized and trustworthy.
According to the analysis, 16 leading blockchains, including Ethereum (ETH) Solana (SOL) BNB Chain (BNB) and Polygon (POL) contain code that allows developers or governing bodies to freeze users’ funds.
These features were designed to protect against hacks and illegal transfers, but they also fuel debate about whether these networks are truly decentralized.
The paper, titled «Blockchain Freezing Exposed…,» presents the results of research on 166 blockchain codebases using an AI framework. It identified patterns associated with freezing, including blacklists, address filtering, and transaction stalling.
Of the 166 networks reviewed, 16 confirmed the presence of their own freezing mechanisms built directly into their architecture.
- Ethereum — Emergency suspension via the control system (hooks similar to EIP-3074).
- Binance Smart Chain (BSC) — Validator-based blacklist consensus.
- Polygon — Dynamic filtering of addresses in transaction pools.
- Solana — Update runtime configuration for blacklist.
- Avalanche — Transaction halt initiated by the control system.
- Tron — Built-in blacklist module.
- Cosmos — IBC suspension and address blocking.
- Polkadot — Parachain-specific freezing via relay network.
- Cardano — Hard forks with address exclusion.
- tezos — Vote on the control system, activating the freeze.
- Near-Protocol — Transaction filtering at the shard level.
- Algorand — Atomic translations with revocation keys.
- Hedera Hashgraph — Administrative control of token freezing.
- Stellar — Conditions for return and freezing upon release of assets.
- Ripple (XRP Ledger) — Escrow and line freezing functionality.
- VeChain — control of transactions based on authority.
Command bybit noted that 19 other blockchains could implement similar control mechanisms by making minor changes to the protocol.