The Ronin Network suffered a $12 million Ethereum and USDC theft, following a previous $600 million hack in March 2022.
The blockchain bridge has been reportedly hacked, dealing a substantial setback to the Ronin Network. It has led to the seizure of approximately $12 million in USD Coin (USDC) and Ethereum (ETH).
The Ronin bridge breach is yet another chapter in the network’s troubled history, which was previously affected by a devastating $600 million hack in March 2022.
Two suspicious transactions were identified on the Ronin bridge, as per a post by Peck Shield Alert, an on-chain analytics tracker.
At the time of publication, the initial transaction involved the transfer of 3,996 ETH, which was estimated to be worth approximately $9.86 million. Additionally, the second transaction resulted in the transfer of roughly 2 million USDC tokens.
The Ronin Network team was compelled to take immediate action as a result of these transactions, which have increased the total misappropriated amount to $12 million. The Ronin bridge was promptly suspended to prevent additional losses in response to the detected exploit.
Alexander Larsen, the co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Ronin Network and Axie Infinity, addressed the situation on X. He declared, “The Ronin Network bridge has been suspended while we conduct an investigation into a report from whitehats regarding a potential MEV exploit.” We will provide additional information in the near future. At present, the bridge is safeguarded by an excess of $850 million.
The most recent intrusion is the latest in a string of security incidents that have beset the Ronin Network. ZachXBT, a crypto investigator, emphasized the network’s turbulent past. In 2022, he emphasized the $600 million breach.
Additionally, he emphasized the $10 million crypto hack that occurred as a result of the intrusion of the wallets of Jeff “Jihoz” Zirlin, co-founder of Ronin Network and Axie Infinity.
Some market experts are speculating that the current incident may be a whitehat breach, in which ethical hackers identify and report vulnerabilities to assist in the network’s security, as the Ronin bridge hack investigation continues.
Nevertheless, there has been no official confirmation of the nature of the breach. Additionally, Larsen’s comment unequivocally implies a MEV exploit and disavows the involvement of whitehats.
In July 2024, the crypto sector encountered an astonishing 16 malware incidents. Excluding a potential governance attack on Compound, these exploits resulted in an estimated $266 million in losses. WazirX, a centralized finance platform, was the victim of the largest intrusion, which resulted in a $230 million loss.
The WazirX breach was responsible for the majority of the financial damage that was observed during the month. LI.FI and Bittensor were among the other notable assaults, with LI.FI incurring a $9.73 million loss and Bittensor losing $8 million.
Furthermore, numerous lesser platforms were also susceptible to these cyberattacks. DeltaPrime and RhoMarkets both experienced intrusions; however, they were able to recover a portion of the stolen funds. DeltaPrime was able to reclaim $900,000 and RhoMarkets was able to reclaim $7.6 million of the $1 million that was taken.
The exchange has filed a FIR regarding the multisig wallet breach in the most recent update on the WazirX intrusion. In the interim, the exchange is exploring potential solutions to reestablish withdrawals and trading on the platform.
Nevertheless, there has been no advancement in the recovery of the misappropriated crypto funds at this time.
