Attacked by hackers and stolen more than 600 million USD, why is Sky Mavis still easily raising hundreds of millions of USD in just 8 days?
The hack of more than 600 million USD into Sky Mavis took place on March 23. Hackers have attacked on Clear in bridge – the bridge connecting blockchain network Ronin Network and Ethereum. After obtaining 5/9 validating nodes, the hacker made two transactions worth more than 600 million USD. Sky Mavis then closed Ronin bridge to investigate, upgrade security. Major crypto exchanges are committed to Sky Mavis investigation. Meanwhile, hackers have started using Tornado Cash “mixer” to gradually disperse the stolen money.
8 days of fundraising after the historic hack
Eight days after announcing the hacker attack, Axie Infinity announced it had successfully raised $150 million in funding. This is the first time a project has been able to refund users 100% of money after being hacked, something no blockchain project in the past has done.
In 2021, Sky Mavis successfully raised up to USD 152 million from a famous global investment fund, raising its valuation to USD 3 billion, automatically entering the ranks of “unicorn” startups. At one time, the AXS coin of this game reached a market capitalization of more than 8 billion USD.
Evaluating about raising $ 150 million right after the hack to pay for players, Nikkei Asian said that this is an important step to help Axie Infinity regain the trust of users.
Dang Vuong Anh, CEO, Co-founder Tamme.Pet, blockchain consultant at NTQ Solution, said that Vietnam has developed many big game projects in the past, even some of the Top 10 projects in the world, but mainly is standing behind. In 2021, the success of the game Axie Infinity, released by Sky Mavis, has contributed to the Vietnamese blockchain game market to explode and get more attention.
Game Axie Infinity by Sky Mavis
“I remember once sitting with an investment fund, they said that out of 100 blockchain game projects they came into contact with, 80 were from Vietnam. Since the trend of Game Fi (game of financial matching), the Vietnamese blockchain game project booms due to the availability of experienced human resources”Mr. Vuong Anh said.
The potential of the blockchain market and the explosion of many quality startups in the industry such as Whydah, HeroVerse, Sipher, Etemon… further increases the attractiveness of venture capital funds.
In 2021, venture capital flows into entertainment and game startups reached a record, amounting to $175 million, an increase of 2,813% compared to the period of 2019-2020. This sector also recorded the highest growth of all venture capital-funded industries (according to NIC, Do Ventures and Cento Ventures statistics).
Assoc. Dinh Ngoc Thanh, CTO of GFS Ventures, which specializes in pouring capital into blockchain startups, said that blockchain startups are growing “terrible”. Traditional companies have also begun to increase recruitment of blockchain personnel. For example, Microsoft, Facebook or Google started to have a blockchain room. The “big guys” in Vietnam like FPT, Dat Xanh Group, Vingroup, Viettel… are starting to recruit blockchain human resources. This shows that the blockchain market is a promising land for startups.
5 founders of Sky Mavis
“The amount of capital poured into the blockchain market is very large. On Shark Tank, a startup that wants to raise 1-2 billion dong is very messy. In the blockchain field, I rarely see a project that only receives a few hundred thousands of dollars, mostly tens of millions, even hundreds of millions of dollars,” Mr. Thanh said.
According to Fortune Business Insights, in 2021, the global blockchain (blockchain technology) market is valued at $4.67 billion; expected to reach USD 7.18 billion in 2022 and USD 163.83 billion in 2029. In particular, this website also forecasts the growth rate of the industry in the period 2021-2029 up to 56.3%. This is tremendous growth compared to all other professions.
According to experts, blockchain is increasingly popular because it can be applied to most industries, creating new business models and bringing breakthrough development. In which, Vietnam is considered a bright spot for blockchain startups. This is an opportunity for blockchain startups to attract international venture capital.
Looking back at the “storm” made 9x CEO cry
In an announcement on Twitter on the night of March 29, Ronin Network said the system had a vulnerability and was attacked. The hacker made two money transfers, totaling 173,600 Ethereum and 25.5 million USDC. With a value of each ETH of 3.4 thousand USD, this cryptocurrency is equivalent to 615 million USD.
CoinDesk calls it the biggest hack in DeFi history, with more money than last August’s Poly Network hack, when hackers stole the equivalent of $611 million in digital currency before giving it all back.
Ronin Network is a side blockchain, built by Sky Mavis to serve the development of the game Axie Infinity. This blockchain helps to overcome some of the problems of the Ethereum blockchain such as high fees and ease of network congestion.
RON fell sharply after the attack was announced, the evening of March 29
During the Scale-Up Forum event organized by Endeavor Vietnam on April 14, Sky Mavis CEO Nguyen Thanh Trung said: “The company’s CTO called to report the attack right when I was about to board the plane. At that time, a lot of mixed emotions ran through my head, just wanted to follow the progress, update the news to handle it, but couldn’t. What to do because the plane is about to take off.
I was upset, angry why the thief was so greedy. This is not only the story of the company but also the story of many people. More than 600 million USD stolen can directly affect the lives and lives of many players, who invest in the game. Many people can come from here with negative thoughts or actions.”
9x CEO said that he thought he was very stable when he quickly calmed down after confused thoughts. But as soon as he landed at the airport, when he got home, he saw that everyone in the small family was still happy and happy and his heart was sad, then he was completely broken. “It was a feeling of helplessness, I couldn’t adjust my emotions to suit the situation, so I burst into tears,” CEO Sky Mavis shared.
Sky Mavis CEO, Nguyen Thanh Trung. Photo: Forbes
Right after that, he and the members kept meeting, updating the situation and together finding the best solution. There are many options offered, but CEO Sky Mavis thinks that in the end there are only two options. One is to continue, the other is to stop. “All members of Sky Mavis have never intended to stop. Now, if they want to continue, there is only one option: to maintain their reputation, overcome the consequences and return lost money to users.“, Trung said.
CEO 9x believes that during the most difficult and stressful times is also the time to learn the most. But this lesson costs too much, so if given the choice, no one wants to pay the price for such a lesson. However, also from the incident, the team also matured a lot.
at Blogtuan.info – Source: genk.vn – Read the original article here
