Axie Infinity blockchain Ronin hacked for over $600M

Ethereum sidechain Ronin, where play-to-earn blockchain game Axie Infinity runs, has been hacked for over US$600 million in crypto, making it one of the biggest hacks in crypto history.

See related article:Axie Infinity becomes first NFT series to break $4B in sales

Fast facts

• Ronin said the hacker compromised four of their own validator nodes along with one controlled by third-party Axie DAO to gain majority control of the network.
• Once the attacker had control of these nodes, they withdrew 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USDC, worth over US$613 million at the time of writing, across two transactions on March 23.
• “The Ronin hack shows why centralized cross-chain bridge solutions may threaten the adoption of cryptocurrencies. Having only nine validators for the Ronin bridge, and four belonging to the same person, is concerning,” said Kadan Stadelmann, CTO of Komodo, in a statement shared with Forkast.
  
• The price of RON, the native currency of Ronin, fell as much as 26% following news of the attack and was trading at US$1.78 at press time.
• In August, Poly Network suffered what was recorded as the largest ever hack when it lost over US$600 million before the assets were eventually returned and the perpetrator was offered a job at the company as chief security advisor.

See related article:Poly Network hackers return remaining stolen assets