Unknown people hacked the wallets of Jeff Zirlin, co-founder of the popular blockchain game Axie Infinity.
Movement Scheme of Stolen Funds
Hackers attacked two addresses belonging to Zirlin. In total, the attackers managed to remove 3,248 Ethereum (ETH) worth $9.7 million from their wallets. Meanwhile, the incident was brought to the attention of the blockchain security analytics platform PeckShield. However, according to experts, cybercriminals withdrew funds from the Ronin Bridge and sent them to Tornado Cash.
#PeckShieldAlert It appears a whale wallet has been compromised, & ~3,248 $ETH (worth ~$9.7m) from the #Ronin Bridge was withdrawn and transferred to #TornadoCash pic.twitter.com/sRK36BQFDu
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) February 23, 2024
Ronin network
At the same time, the co-founder of the Ronin network, Alexander Larsen, immediately wrote on X (formerly Twitter) that everything was fine with the bridge and there had been no recent security problems. He emphasized that with a huge withdrawal of funds, the bridge automatically suspends work.
“The wallet has clearly been compromised, as every network does, and funds are being laundered through Tornado,” Larsen added.
Jeff Zirlin of Axie Infinity Addressed the Situation
Ten minutes after the first report of a potential hack, Jeff Zirlin confirmed everything. Also, the co-founder of Axie Infinity noted that unknown persons hacked two of his wallets and this has nothing to do with the Ronin Bridge.
“I’m having a hard morning today. Two of my addresses were hacked. The attack is limited to my personal accounts and has nothing to do with the validation or operations of the Ronin network. In addition, the key leak has nothing to do with the operation of Sky Mavis. I want to assure everyone that we have strict security measures in place for all transactions related to the chain,” the developer said in a tweet.
According to PeckShield, the stolen 3,248 ETH was transferred to three different wallets. Hackers cover their tracks using the popular Tornado Cash mixer.
Ripple (XRP) Co-Founder Chris Larsen Hacked Previously
Recently, at the end of January, news appeared that cybercriminals had hacked the famous fintech startup Ripple for $112 million. However, it almost immediately became clear that only the personal wallet of project co-founder Chris Larsen was affected.
The Ripple team turned to the crypto exchanges through which the hacker laundered the stolen tokens with a request to freeze the attacker’s addresses. In addition, law enforcement officers also joined the investigation.
Binance was the first to respond to the request. Representatives wrote that they froze XRP for a total amount of $4.2 million in the cybercriminal’s account.
About Axie Infinity
Axie Infinity is a platform that allows you to earn tokens in a playful way and contribute to the ecosystem. Outwardly, it is a cartoon game about fantastic animals, but in essence it is a social platform and work network. Also, it uses NFTs (non-fungible tokens) and, although still in early stages, it ranks first among NFT platforms on Ethereum. Notable to mention that AXS Token (ERC-20) is the governance tool for Axie Infinity. Not only that, AXS holders receive rewards when they play games, create user-generated content, and take part in governance votes.
