$625 Million Stolen by a Hacker from Blockchain

Ronin, the blockchain that underpins the famous crypto game Axie Infinity, has had $625 million worth of virtual currency robbed. Sky Mavis, the CEO of Ronin and Axie Infinity, announced the hack on Tuesday. And halted all payments on the Ronin bridge. It allows users to deposit and withdraw money from the firm’s blockchain.

Money Stolen from Blockchain

Sky Mavis claims to be working with law enforcement to recover 173,600 Ethereum (worth more than $600 million) and 25.5 million USDC from the offender, who removed the funds of the network on March 23rd. The hack targeted Sky Mavis’ Ronin network, which acts as a middleman between Axie Infinity and other virtual currency blockchains such as Ethereum. Customers could fund Ronin using Ethereum or USDC, then acquire non-fungible tokens or in-game currency.

According to Sky Mavis, a hacker compromised the network nodes that verify transactions to and from the Ronin network by using pirated private security keys. As a result, the attacker was able to withdraw substantial amounts of Ethereum and USDC in a stealthy manner. Some other users tried to withdraw 5,000 Ethereum using the bridge today, almost a week after the transfer was found.

Sky Mavis Explanation

Sky Mavis claims that neither the “axie” NFT tokens required to enter Axie Infinity nor even the SLP and AXS in-game cryptocurrencies utilized to battle and breed the pokémon-like animation axolotls have been hacked. (Disclosure: Adi paid $105 for three axies last month to expose the game; axies are presently having total worth of roughly $25 each.)

However, the suspension of withdrawals and deposits ultimately excludes many new players. And the attack raises questions about the status of other user cash just on the Ronin blockchain. Sky Mavis claims it’s “operating with law enforcement authorities, professional cryptographers, and our financiers. All to ensure there is no theft of user funds,” and that it’s a “high priority” for the company.

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