Axie Infinity’s Ronin bridge halted after a massive $600 million hack

• The Ronin wallet is popular amongst play-to-earn games, and Axie Infinity is amongst the most popular such games in the world.
  
• Axie Infinity’s user base dropped 10% in the last 24 hours.
  
• Sky Mavis has said that the company is working with law enforcement to track the hack.

The Ronin bridge for popular crypto game Axie Infinity has been halted after a security breach was discovered, almost a week after it took place. Approximately $625 million worth of cryptocurrency was stolen from Ronin, the blockchain platform that powers Axie Infinity. The breach was revealed by Sky Mavis, the operator of Ronin and Axie on March 29, but it originally occurred on March 23. The showrunners discovered the hack when a user failed to withdraw 5000 ETH from their account.

Blockchain bridges are connectors that allow different chains and web3 products to interact with each other.

Sky Mavis has said that the company is working with law enforcement to look into the hack, which led to the loss of 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USDC from the platform. The Ethereum tokens are worth approximately $600 million, while USDC is a cryptocurrency that is built to stay in sync with the US dollar.

The attack was focused on the bridge between Axie Infinity and Ronin, which is why the bridge has been halted. However, the developers have said that the “axie” tokens, which are used to play Axie Infinity, haven't been compromised. The SLP and AXS currencies used in the game are safe as well, according to the devs.

That said, freezing the bridge means that both withdrawals and deposits from the game will be blocked for now, and it’s unclear when the same will be opened again. Crypto tracking website Coinmarketcap carries the following disclaimer for the AXS token right now.

“Holders will be able to access new features (breeding and staking in the future) if they upgrade their AXS/SLP. This can be done from Axieinfinity.com starting Wednesday 28 of April 2021. The swap can be initiated immediately by interacting directly with the smart contract.

It’s possible that the bridge will remain blocked till investigations into the matter are complete, which could take a long time, going by how long it usually takes law enforcement to track crypto hacks.

The Ronin hack, however, is yet another reminder that security is quickly becoming a chief concern among web3 products. In a February report, blockchain tracking platform Chainalysis noted that crypto criminals or wallets used in illicit crypto activities now make up 3.7% of the world’s crypto whales.

“As we’ve witnessed, Ronin is not immune to exploitation and this attack has reinforced the importance of prioritizing security, remaining vigilant, and mitigating all threats,” Sky Mavis said in its community alert. “We know trust needs to be earned and are using every resource at our disposal to deploy the most sophisticated security measures and processes to prevent future attacks.”

Axie Infinity, which is among the most popular play-to-earn games in the world today, also registered a nearly 10% drop in its user base in the last 24 hours, according to a report by DappRadar.

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