- Ronin Network Shuts Down Bridge Operations After $9.8 Million Breach
- According to the initial update, it is likely a white hat hacker.
Ronin, the blockchain network for gaming and powering the Axie Infinity game, has announced that it is temporarily suspending its bridge.
The August 6 announcement comes amid a whitehat hacking campaign that is believed to have resulted in over $9.8 million being stolen via MEV bots.
What happen?
The Ronin exploit reportedly allowed attackers to steal 3,996 Ether (ETH) tokens from the blockchain. The on-chain security platform warned the community about the suspected hack in a post published by X.
#PexshieldNotification @ronin_network #whitehacking? Or was it hacked? (approximately $9.33 million) pic.twitter.com/wfaY0zhVdI
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) August 6, 2024
Ronin confirmed the exploit via an update, saying the network outage will allow the security team to investigate before providing a report.
“The Ronin Network bridge has been temporarily suspended while we investigate reports of a potential MEV exploit by white hat hackers,” Alexander Larsen, co-founder of Axie Infinity and Ronin Network, said in a statement posted to X.
“More information will be available soon,” added Larsen, who is also known as “Psycheout” on X.
According to him, the bridge is currently secured at more than $850 million, which he said is safe.
Are you a white hacker?
The recent incident involving Ronin’s Bridge comes as the market is rocked by a massive price crash. Axie Infinity, which plunged to $3.89, has bounced back amidst the broader market rally. AXS is trading at $4.41 at the time of writing, up over 11% in the past 24 hours.
Unlike the $625 million incident in March 2022 that sent AXS crashing, investors did not react negatively to the news.
This is probably due to early reports that the $9.8 million hack on August 6th was likely a white-hat hack. If so, the attackers will return the funds after Ronin patches the vulnerability.