Launched in 2018, Axie Infinity, the Pokémon-esque NFT game, gained popularity as one of the most successful crypto game.
However, it recently suffered a security breach on the Ronin Network, its Ethereum side chain, resulting in the theft of 173,600 ether and 25.5 million USDC stable coins.
The theft totaled to an amount of US$620 million, possibly making it the largest exploit in crypto history.
Key Highlights
- The hacker allegedly used hacked private keys to forge fraudulent withdrawals by finding a backdoor through Ronin Network's gas-free RPC node.
- The security breach was only discovered seven days after it happened.
- Ronin Network announced that it is determined to "bring the criminals to justice" by working with unnamed government agencies.
- Ronin Network mentioned that the stolen funds are still in the hacker's wallet and it is working to ensure that no funds are lost, but it was not specified how that will be achieved.
- Other tokens in the network like Axie Infinity Shards, Ronin Coin, and Small Love Potion are not compromised.
- Due to the high gas fees on the Ethereum network during congestion, the Ronin Network was created particularly to allow Axie Infinity to transact at much lower fees.
