The Ronin Network has suffered a major setback as its blockchain bridge was hacked. About $12 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) and USD Coin (USDC) has been stolen. This hack adds to the network’s troubles, following a huge $600 million hack in March 2022. Peck Shield Alert, an on-chain analytics tracker, reported two suspicious transactions on the Ronin bridge: one moving 3,996 ETH, worth about $9.86 million, and another moving nearly 2 million USDC tokens.

These transactions have increased the total stolen amount to $12 million, prompting the Ronin Network team to take immediate action. The Ronin bridge was quickly paused to prevent further losses. Alexander Larsen, co-founder and COO of Axie Infinity and Ronin Network, addressed the issue on X. He said, “The Ronin Network bridge has been paused while we investigate a report from whitehats about a potential MEV exploit. We will provide more information soon. The bridge currently holds over $850M, which is safe.”

This latest breach adds to a string of security problems for the Ronin Network. Crypto investigator ZachXBT highlighted the network’s troubled past, including the $600 million hack in 2022 and a $10 million crypto hack involving Axie Infinity and Ronin Network co-founder Jeff “Jihoz” Zirlin’s wallets.
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WazirX Breach: Largest Hack of the Month
As the investigation into the Ronin bridge hack continues, some market experts speculate that the incident might be a whitehat hack, where ethical hackers identify and report vulnerabilities to help secure the network. However, there is no official confirmation about the nature of the hack. Alexander Larsen’s comments suggest an MEV exploit and do not support the idea of whitehat involvement.
In July 2024, the crypto sector faced a troubling 16 hacking incidents, resulting in about $266 million in losses, not including a potential governance attack on Compound. The largest breach was at WazirX, a centralized finance platform, which suffered a $230 million loss.
The WazirX hack was the biggest contributor to the financial damage for the month. Other notable attacks included LI.FI, which lost $9.73 million, and Bittensor, with $8 million stolen. Several smaller platforms were also targeted. RhoMarkets and DeltaPrime both experienced breaches but managed to recover some of the stolen funds, with RhoMarkets reclaiming $7.6 million and DeltaPrime $900,000 out of the $1 million taken.
In the latest update on the WazirX hack, the exchange has filed an FIR regarding the multisig wallet breach and is exploring ways to reinstate withdrawals and trading. However, no progress has been made towards recovering the stolen crypto funds so far.
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