Ronin Network Hacked Again, Losing $11.33 Million

The Ronin Network, known for its role in play-to-earn games, has been exploited again. This time, over $11.33 million was siphoned off, marking the second significant hack in two years.

PeckShield Discovers Exploit

The breach was first reported by blockchain security firm PeckShield. They revealed that a Maximal Extractable Value (MEV) bot withdrew Ether (ETH) and USD Coin (USDC) worth $11.33 million from the Ronin Bridge.

Ronin Network's Response

Following the alert, Ronin Network paused its operations. They confirmed the bridge was paused 40 minutes after the first on-chain action was detected to prevent further exploitation while the team investigated the breach.

MEV Bot Involvement

The exploit appears to have been facilitated by an MEV bot, specifically "0x4ab," which accidentally exploited a loophole in the Ronin Bridge protocol. Blockchain data reveals that the MEV bot "0x4ab" executed the transaction, withdrawing a substantial amount of funds. A portion of the funds, about 3.9 Ether, was sent to a wallet known as "beaverbuild."

This isn't the first time Ronin has been compromised. In March 2022, the network suffered a massive loss of over $615 million in USDC and Ether due to an exploit involving hacked private keys used to forge fake withdrawals from the Ronin Bridge.