Ronin Network Suffers $9.8 Million Loss in Potential Exploit Amid Rising Crypto Hacks in 2024

Ronin Network Suffers $9.8 Million Loss in Potential Exploit Amid Rising Crypto Hacks in 2024

The Ronin Network, one of the most prominent gaming blockchains, has recently suffered a significant loss of 3,996 Ether tokens, valued at over $9.8 million, in what appears to be a potential exploit. This incident adds to the growing list of cryptocurrency hacks in 2024.

According to a post by PeckShield on August 6, the exploit might have been carried out by a white hat hacker—an ethical hacker aiming to identify and expose vulnerabilities within a crypto protocol. If this is the case, the stolen funds could be returned after the vulnerability has been demonstrated and confirmed.

There is a precedent for hackers, even those with initially malicious intent, to return stolen assets. For instance, in May 2024, a hacker returned $71 million in stolen cryptocurrency after the high-profile nature of the incident drew unwanted attention and potentially exposed their IP address.

Was the $9.8 Million Stolen by a White Hat MEV Bot?

Adding an optimistic twist to the situation, the exploit appears to have been executed by a maximal extractable value (MEV) bot, a tool used by validators to seek arbitrage opportunities across decentralized finance platforms.

MEV bots are designed to automatically implement arbitrage strategies, and it’s not unusual for them to unintentionally exploit loopholes in a protocol. A deeper analysis of the $9.8 million transaction on the Ronin bridge revealed that the transaction was carried out by an MEV bot identified as “0x4ab.”

Following the exploit, the bot transferred a small portion of the funds—3.9 Ether—to the wallet “0x952,” also known as “beaverbuild,” according to blockchain data.

This isn’t the first time MEV bots have been involved in such incidents. In July 2024, an MEV bot was responsible for the $7.6 million exploit on Rho Markets, though the protocol managed to recover all the stolen funds within a week.

The Ronin hack was confirmed to have originated from an MEV bot, as noted by Cyvers in an August 6 post on X. The deployer of the Axie Infinity contract reached out to the bot’s address, expressing gratitude for the white hat intervention in protecting user funds.

Crypto Hacks Surge in 2024, Outpacing 2023

2024 is shaping up to be a record year for crypto hacks, with the first quarter alone seeing $542.7 million in stolen funds—a staggering 42% increase compared to the same period in 2023.

July was particularly devastating for the industry, with the largest incident being the theft of over $230 million from WazirX, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange. The hacker has since been attempting to move and potentially cash out the stolen funds, consolidating $57 million worth of ETH into new crypto addresses on July 22.

Overall, July saw over $266 million stolen across 16 different attacks, with the WazirX breach standing as the second-largest cryptocurrency hack of 2024 thus far.