Ronin Network Losses $12 Million in Crypto: Rumor or Reality?

Uncovering the Reality of Ronin Network’s Crypto Loss

On 6 August, the Ronin Network faced another massive attack that led to the theft of about $9.8 Million worth of Ether (ETH) and $2 Million worth of USD Coin (USDC). This incident increases the network’s history of mishaps, which has had a $600 Million hack in March of 2022.

At the press time, ETH price was trading at $2,462.29, after an intraday surge of 10.05% with $296,494,774,683 in market cap and $36,145,040,527 in 24-hour volume. USDC, alternatively hovering at $1.00, with $33,994,261,106 in market cap and $14,956,843,549 in 24-hour volume. 

According to on-chain analytics tracker PeckShield Alert, two suspicious transactions were detected on the Ronin bridge. The platform shared the details over X.

Source: X

The first transaction involved the movement of 3,996 ETH, valued at around $9.86 Million, while the second transaction saw nearly 2 Million USDC tokens shifted. In response to the detected exploit, the Ronin Network team promptly paused the bridge to prevent further losses. COO and co-founder of Axie Infinity and Ronin Network, Alexander Larsen highlighted the situation. 

According to Larsen, the bridge has been paused while they investigate a report from whitehats about a potential maximal extractable value (MEV) exploit. He assured that the bridge currently secures over $850 Million, which remains safe.

Speculations and Previous Incidents

As the investigation unfolds, some market experts speculate that the current incident may be a whitehat hack, where ethical hackers identify and report vulnerabilities to help secure the network. However, no official confirmation has been provided by the network.

Crypto sleuth ZachXBT highlighted the network’s troubled history, including the $600 Million hack in 2022 and a $10 Million crypto hack involving co-founder Jeff “Jihoz” Zirlin’s wallets.

Adding a note of optimism, the exploit was seemingly caused by an MEV bot, a software tool used by validators to analyze arbitrage opportunities across decentralized finance (DeFi). The MEV bot “0x4ab” executed the $9.8 Million transaction on the Ronin bridge and subsequently sent a small part of the funds to wallet “0x952”.

Conclusion

The Ronin Network experienced another significant hack on August 6, resulting in the loss of approximately $12 Million in ETH and USDC. This incident follows a history of security breaches, including a $600 Million hack in March 2022. The network promptly paused its bridge to prevent further losses and is investigating the exploit, which may involve an MEV bot. 

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