Ronin Bridge pauses operations following suspicious $10m withdrawal

Axie Infinity’s Ronin Bridge has suspended all operations following the draining of over $10 million worth of cryptocurrency from the protocol.

Ronin Bridge (RON), a multi-signature cross-chain bridge that connects various networks with the Ronin Network, was allegedly exploited on Tuesday, Aug. 6, after reports surfaced of suspicious transactions draining millions worth of crypto from the protocol’s liquidity pool.

Blockchain analysis firm PeckShield indicated in X posts that an unknown entity withdrew $10.3 million worth of crypto in two suspicious transactions from the protocol.

In response, Aleksander Larsen, co-founder of Ronin Network, stated on X that the team “will follow up with more information shortly,” adding that the bridge “secures over $850 million which is safe.” He also added that the team is investigating a “report from whitehats about a potential MEV exploit.” No further details were provided.

Ronin faces criticism

The incident has sparked renewed criticism from within the crypto community. ZachXBT, a blockchain sleuth, criticized Ronin’s security measures, calling the protocol a “cursed project” and labeling the latest breach as indicative of “mismanagement.”

Adding to the scrutiny, Hacken analysts have speculated that the hack could be linked to a recent upgrade of the Ronin Bridge’s proxy contract, saying that “it’s possible that the vulnerability was introduced during this update.” Despite the breach, the price of Ronin’s native token remained unchanged, showing an 11% increase in the past 24 hours, per data from crypto.news.

This is not the first time Ronin Bridge has faced such challenges. In March 2022, the protocol was targeted by the Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacking gang, which resulted in the theft of 173,600 Ethereum (ETH) and $25.5 million worth of USD Coin (USDC).