Bybit researchers revealed which blockchains support fund freezing
A new report from Bybit’s Lazarus Security Lab showed that many major 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 options were designed to protect against hacks and illegal transfers, but they also fuel debates about whether these networks are truly decentralized.
The document titled “Exposing Blockchain Freezing…” presents the results of an analysis of 166 blockchain codebases using an AI-based framework. It identified patterns related to freezing — blacklists, address filtering, and transaction halting.
Of the 166 networks examined, 16 confirmed having built-in freezing mechanisms embedded directly into their architecture.
Ethereum — Emergency suspension through a governance system (hooks similar to EIP-3074).
Binance Smart Chain (BSC) — Validator-based blacklist consensus.
Polygon — Dynamic address filtering in transaction pools.
Solana — Runtime configuration update for blacklist enforcement.
Avalanche — Governance-initiated transaction halting.
Tron — Built-in blacklist module.
Cosmos — IBC suspension and address blocking.
Polkadot — Parachain-specific freezing via the relay chain.
Cardano — Hard forks excluding specific addresses.
Tezos — Governance voting activating freezing.
Near Protocol — Transaction filtering at the shard level.
Algorand — Atomic transfers with revocation keys.
Hedera Hashgraph — Administrative control over token freezing.
Stellar — Return and freezing conditions during asset issuance.
Ripple (XRP Ledger) — Escrow and line-freezing functionality.
VeChain — Authority-based transaction control.
The Bybit team noted that 19 other blockchains could implement similar control mechanisms with minor protocol adjustments.
See also: "In a month, Solana processes more transactions than Ethereum has in its entire history"
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