More than $600M in cryptocurrency stolen in video game hack

Hackers exploited a cryptocurrency exchange network in a virtual game called Axie Infinity to steal more than $600 million from the system.

The attacker broke into the Ronin network, essentially a bridge that transfers cryptocurrency in and out of the game, by exploiting a backdoor in the virtual network on March 23, according to a Tuesday blog post from Sky Mavis, the makers of Axie Infinity.

The unknown person or group stole 173,600 Ethereum and 25.5M USDC, a cryptocurrency linked to the U.S. dollar, which in total is worth around $625 million.

Sky Mavis was alerted to the attack on Tuesday by a user who was unable to pull 5,000 Ethereum from the game. The company said the Ronin network has been halted and it is working with cryptographers and law enforcement to recover funds.

“We moved swiftly to address the incident once it became known and we are actively taking steps to guard against future attacks,” the company said in the blog post.

Sky Mavis COO Aleksander Larsen told Bloomberg he was “fully committed” to reimbursing players who have lost funds and are working on a solution.

Axie Infinity is a blockchain-based game where players purchase non-fungible tokens (NFTs) of digital monsters and battle them against each other.