Axie Infinity’s exchange was hacked, more than 600 million USD of cryptocurrency was “stolen” – Information Technology

The hacker made two money transfers, totaling 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USDC, equivalent to more than 600 million USD.

According to SCMP, an unknown person or group of hackers has stolen an estimated amount of cryptocurrency worth more than $600 million from Axie Infinity gamers. This is the largest known crypto theft.

This comes from a hole in the Ronin Network (a trading and trading system for Axie Infinity gamers), and hackers quickly took advantage of it. The hacker made two transfers, totaling 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USDC.

This amount was converted to USD 545 million on the day of the theft (March 23), but by March 29 (the date of announcement of the incident) it was worth about 615 USD. When the incident became known, the value of these cryptocurrencies has been plummeting.

Axie Infinity is a world famous blockchain game, run by Vietnamese people.

According to Ronin Network, most of the stolen money is still in the hacker’s wallet in the form of ETH cryptocurrency. However, it is possible that part of this money was transferred to the FTX exchange by the hacker.

Before the aforementioned incident, Ronin’s system was temporarily down. Ronin operator said that they are actively handling to prevent other attacks that may occur in the future. The immediate move is that they have contacted security teams at other major exchanges such as Chainalysis, hoping to uncover clues related to the stolen funds.

Axie Infinity players are currently unable to withdraw or deposit to the Ronin Network e-wallet. Song Sky Mavis – Axie Infinity developer run by Vietnamese CEO Nguyen Thanh Trung, pledged that the stolen funds will be refunded or recovered.

In Axie Infinity, gamers participate in battles using Axies – colorful animals and receive “Smooth Love Potion” (SLP) rewards, which can then be exchanged for cryptocurrency or cash – or invest back into the game’s virtual world. Around 35% of Axie Infinity’s 2.5 million daily active players traffic comes from the Philippines, where English proficiency is high, gaming culture is thriving, and smartphone usage is ubiquitous. .

To play the game, the player must first purchase at least three Axies. Axie is a unique form of NFT (network asset) with a specific set of capabilities and characteristics. It’s like NFT artworks stored on the blockchain which cannot be changed by anyone. Axies can be bought, sold or rented to other players. Owners can also breed them to create new Axies that offer more value.