According to blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, an abuse of cryptocurrency gaming platform PlayDapp resulted in the loss of millions of dollars worth of PLA tokens that power PlayDapp’s gaming platform and NFT marketplace.
Elliptic said in a report Tuesday that an unauthorized wallet, possibly caused by a private key compromise, minted 200 million PLA tokens worth $36.5 million at the time on February 9.
Shortly after this incident, PlayDapp sent a message to the hacker via an on-chain transaction.Return the stolen funds by 3 a.m. ET on February 13th to receive a $1 million white hat reward. If not, PlayDapp said it would issue a $1 million white hat bounty to find the hackers and cooperate with law enforcement.
“Attempts to negotiate with the hackers were unsuccessful as they showed no willingness to recover holders’ losses,” PlayDapp wrote in a statement Tuesday.
Instead, the hackers issued an additional 1.59 billion PLA tokens worth $253.9 million on February 12 and began laundering money through cryptocurrency exchanges.
“The total circulating supply of PLA tokens prior to the breach was 577 million, so it may be difficult for exploiters to sell the 1.8 billion newly minted tokens at a price close to their pre-hack market value,” Elliptic wrote.
Suspended smart contract
February 13th Playdapp wrote On social media platform X, the PLA smart contract was suspended.
“We are requesting a transaction halt to conduct a snapshot for the migration,” it said. “Please understand that we are committed to protecting our holders’ assets and will continue to provide updates to our community.”
PlayDapp added that it is working with cryptocurrency exchanges, blockchain forensics companies, and law enforcement agencies. We are also tracking issued and exchanged tokens and discussing migration solutions such as airdrops.
According to The Block’s PLA pricing page, PlayDapp’s PLA token was trading at $0.15 as of 10:55 AM ET on February 13, down 2.9% in the last 24 hours.
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