Ronin Bridge $625 Million Hack; Attacker’s Wallet Frozen and More.
The Ronin hackers got off with 174,000 ETH, the Ethereum blockchain’s native currency, and approximately 26 million USDC; the two are presently valued at around $625 million. USDC is a stablecoin, meaning its value is fixed against the US dollar.
The Ronin hack highlights the security vulnerabilities that affect the decentralized finance (DeFi) ecosystem as a whole. According to our blockchain research department, $2.3 billion was stolen from DeFi platforms in 2021, up 1,330 percent from the previous year.
Our investigation of the Ronin exploit reveals the stolen 25.5 million USDC were swapped for ETH via Uniswap V3 and 1inch within 30 minutes of the heist. Yet, no further transactions occurred from the hacker’s primary address from then until Wed, March 28.
Around 02:30GMT on the 28th of march and for almost exactly 24 hours, the hacker disbursed ETH in 500-1250 increments to several intermediary addresses. Funds were then deposited at addresses controlled by 3 major exchanges, namely Binance, FTX, and Huobi. Some were converted to BTC, where they remain as of this writing.
What Exchanges are saying?
Binance, FTX, and Huobi have all reacted to the news of the hack and have sought to take preventive measures by temporarily suspending all deposits & withdrawals on the Ronin Network.
Deposits & withdrawals on @Ronin_Network are temporarily suspended. https://t.co/QNmEqnUqK9
— Binance (@binance) March 30, 2022
Binance had also halted withdrawals of Wrapped Ether (WETH) on the Ethereum network, as well as the convert function from WETH to ETH, according to the official notice. Potential hacker addresses were also blacklisted, and a monitoring team was established to track any strange activity. The exchange did not provide a particular date for resumption, just stating that the limits would be in place until the network was stabilized.
FTX CEO and the richest man in crypto also has this to say about the incidence,
(I acknowledge this post; we are investigating and taking action if/where appropriate.)
— SBF (@SBF_FTX) March 29, 2022
Huobi will fully support @AxieInfinity as it deals with the aftermath of the attack and theft on its Ronin chain. Any stolen crypto assets that have been discovered to have traversed our exchange and related networks will be dealt with expediently.
— Huobi (@HuobiGlobal) March 29, 2022
Ronin, on the other hand, is in contact with major cryptocurrency exchanges and Chainalysis to track the stolen funds’ movement, as well as Chargebackpros to devise a strategy to compensate individuals who have been affected by the loss. Ronin also stated that it is collaborating with authorities.
We are working with law enforcement officials, forensic cryptographers, and our investors to make sure that all funds are recovered or reimbursed. All of the AXS, RON, and SLP on Ronin are safe right now.
Protect Yourself From Crypto Hacks?
If you’re part of the crypto community, you’re probably already aware of the significance of keeping your crypto assets safe and secure. But just in case you aren’t, here are some tips and knowledge on how to protect yourself from crypto hacks. A couple of things to avoid:
- Don’t store all of your funds on a single exchange or wallet. If you can, use cold storage for holding a good chunk of your assets.
- Make sure that all of your passwords are strong and different for each account.
- Use 2FA (2 Factor Authentication) whenever possible.
- Don’t share a picture of yourself with your wallet address written on your hand. That’s just asking for trouble!
- Phishing scams typically aim to get you to visit a fake website that looks real in order to get you to enter in your credentials and steal them. The best way to prevent this is by only visiting trusted websites that have SSL encryption.
In a nutshell, make sure to keep a close eye on exchanges, hardware wallets, and mobile app transactions. Always use the best security practices and be aware of scams. If something terrible happens, contact your wallet provider right away, as well as your local authorities. A little due diligence can go a long way!
