Hackers Steal Over $615M in What May Be the Biggest DeFI Hack in History

Crypto hackers have stolen over $615 million from network that runs popular game Axie Infinity.

Axie Infinity, which lets users earn money as they play, is connected to what could be the largest decentralized finance, or DeFi, hack in history.

Axie Infinity’s Ronin Network said in a blog post on Tuesday morning that it lost around $615 million in USDC (a U.S. dollar pegged stablecoin) and ethereum.

This is bigger than the $611 million hack of the DeFi protocol Poly Network in August 2021.

The security breach was confirmed by Axie Infinity’s official Discord and Twitter accounts, as well as by Ronin Network.

The incident was discovered Tuesday after a user was unable to withdraw 5,000 ether.

The actual attack took place on Mar. 23, when exploiters used hacked private keys to forge fake withdrawals, the blog post said, adding that other key validator nodes were compromised.

Ronin said the breach resulted in 173,600 ethereum and 25.5 million USDC being drained from the Ronin bridge in two transactions, which can be viewed on Etherscan. The project lost around $615 million at current prices.

Analysts at Blockchain Intelligence Group said the stolen money is on the move and nearly $17 million in ethereum has already been transferred to exchanges, including FTX and Huobi, the firm said.

Disclaimer: We have no position in any of the companies mentioned and have not been compensated for this article.