Crypto Hackers exploit Axie Infinity Ronin Network for $9.8M in ETH
Ronin Network, a sidechain tied to blockchain game Axie Infinity, has lost $9.8 million worth of Ether in a potential exploit, according to an X post from blockchain security company PeckShield.
This latest hack is suspected to originate from a white-hat hacker who might be performing exploits to find the vulnerabilities in a crypto protocol, which has added to the rising number of cryptocurrency hacks in 2024.
Ronin Network Bridge was paused earlier today after the hacker exploited $9.8 million in tokens from the platform. Co-founder Aleksander Larsen, @Psycheout86, said in an X post that the Ronin network bridge has been paused while the team investigates a report from whitehats regarding a possible MEV exploit. Larsen added that the bridge is safe and currently secures over $850 million.
An even more recent post highlights another suspicious instance of on-chain activity worth approximately $2 million, while the first report indicates a total of $9.33 million.
#PeckShieldAlert Another suspicious txs (w/ $2M) pic.twitter.com/azrh4grUek
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) August 6, 2024
Earlier today, we were notified by white-hats about a potential exploit on the Ronin bridge. After verifying the reports, the bridge was paused approximately 40 minutes after the first on-chain action was spotted.
— Ronin (@Ronin_Network) August 6, 2024
The actors withdrew ~4K ETH and 2M USDC, valued at ~$12M, which…
The transaction, which involved the transfer of more than 3,996 ETH, happened on Tuesday at approximately 9:37 a.m. GMT. Many have speculated that the incident might have been the work of an ethical hacker or that it might have been a white-hat transaction. At 10:15 a.m., the bridge was then put on hold.
In March 2022, a hacker stole $625 million from Ronin's Ethereum bridge. A five validator key exploit caused the loss of $25.5 million in stablecoin USDC and 173,600 ETH, or approximately $590 million at the time.
As of the time of writing, the price of RON, the native token of the Ronin network, is up by 10.8% even after the news of the hack on the news, according to CoinGecko.
According to reports, $542.7 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen in the first quarter of 2024. In July, an anonymous hacker stole over $230 million from the Indian cryptocurrency exchange WazirX, which makes it the second largest hack of the year.
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