In a blog post published on Tuesday (March 29th) Axie Infinity’s Ronin Network revealed that it fell victim to what is the largest decentralized finance hack of all time. It was announced that the losses amount to $615 million in USDC and Ethereum.
The attack happened on March 23rd when exploiters hacked private keys to forge withdrawals. As it was discovered on Tuesday, 173,600 Ethereum and 25.5 million USDC were drained from the Ronin bridge in two transactions.
Axie Infinity is a popular game where users earn money as they play. They collect and breed Axies and sell Axie NFTs to other players. Precisely, players make a deposit using the bridge and buy NFTs or in-game currency, then sell their in-game assets to other players and withdraw the money. The hack was discovered when a player could not withdraw his funds.
The popular game has more than once sparked controversy because of the high cost to play. What’s more, the company even launched a scholarship connecting gamers who do not have the necessary funds with people who have the funds but lack the time and the skills.
The security breach was confirmed by Ronin and the latter said that it was “working with law enforcement officials, forensic cryptographers, and our investors to make sure there is no loss of user funds.”
The theft just comes to highlight the vulnerabilities of Web3. Blockchain opponents said that anonymity makes such kind of thefts quite easy and reminded that back in December, a $200 million in currency was stolen from the BitMart platform. Last summer, the Poly network was hit and more than $600 million were drained.
Trading in Axie Infinity is now frozen but Sky Mavis – the company behind the game, said that the hack would not disrupt its activities.
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Victor Stuard
Crypto Specialist
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