The Ronin Network, popularly known for its use in gaming and decentralized applications, is in the headlines for quite the unusual reason. In the early hours of August 6, the platform was hit by an exploit that left it reeling with a loss of around $9.8 million worth of Ether (ETH). The attack, which adds to a growing list of crypto security breaches this year, saw whoever orchestrated the plan make away with a total of 3,996 ETH tokens.
Following the attack, a large portion of the crypto community is choosing to fly with the idea that the exploit might not be the work of a malicious hacker. Rather, they believe it may have been planned by a white hat hacker, who routinely carries out such attacks to prove a point after discovering a loophole in any crypto protocol.
Blockchain security firm PeckShield also echoed this sentiment, suggesting that the Ronin attack has all the makings of a ‘whitehacking.’
Ronin Network confirms Attack, Assures Uses of Safety of Funds
The Ronin Network has issued an explanation regarding what caused the recent attack. In a statement shared via its X profile, the team explained that a bridge upgrade “introduced an issue leading the bridge to misinterpret the required bridge operators vote threshold to withdraw funds.” According to the team, efforts are ongoing to implement a solution and forestall similar occurences in the future.
Ronin also claimed to be in contact with the attackers, and the statement along this line suggests that the attack was truly initiated by white hats. Part of the statement reads:
“We are currently negotiating with the actors, who appear to be acting as white-hats and have responded in good faith.”
Furthermore, Ronin has announced to its users that they should remain calm. The firm maintains that all user funds are safe and that any shortfalls will be re-deposited into the bridge when it opens up. That is, regardless of whatever the outcome of the ongoing negotiations is.
Crypto Hacks Are Rising
All statistics point to the fact that crypto hacks have grown increasingly popular this year. That is, in comparison with the frequency with which they occurred last year. As of the first quarter of 2024, around $542.7 million worth of assets had already been stolen, indicating a 42% increase from what happened in Q1 2023.
July was a particularly bad month for the industry after an unknown hacker stole over $230 million from WazirX.
The hacker has since been trying to funnel the stolen funds. On July 22, the WazirX hacker consolidated $57 million worth of ETH into new crypto addresses, likely aiming to cash out.
As for Ronin, the platform promises to issue a post-mortem next week, where it will give the technicalities around what happened today and how it plans to prevent similar cases in the future.
