Axie Inifinity’s Co-Founder Targeted by Hackers, Resulting in the Loss of Millions of Dollars
Two cryptocurrency wallets linked to Jeff “Jihoz” Zirlin, a co-founder of both Axie Infinity and Ronin Network, were breached, resulting in the theft of roughly $9.7 million worth of Ethereum.
The breach was reported by PeckShield, a blockchain investigator, who identified a compromise in a “whale wallet” via the Ronin Bridge. The hacker made off with 3,248 ETH.
Hacked or not hacked? @Ronin_Network
0x73f428e1037a310d472A24100dA37fB1d8dEC8B8
0x39F817976C51A91b60145feBad81067e69713105
0xA4017DE6460bD63a77404dd2C2344D6135eD13b2 https://t.co/WQxaY9n5OR pic.twitter.com/5KURCJAW77— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) February 23, 2024
Aleksander Larsen, another co-founder of Ronin Network, emphasized the bridge’s security measures but suspected a wallet hack.
Zirlin later confirmed the breach, stating it wasn’t due to vulnerabilities in the Ronin chain or Sky Mavis operations. PeckShield attributed the breach to a “wallet compromise,” enabling unauthorized fund transfers.
The stolen ETH was split and moved across multiple wallets before landing in Tornado Cash, a service commonly used by hackers to anonymize funds.
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Additionally, Binance froze $4.2 million worth of stolen XRP, part of a $112 million hack involving Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen’s wallet.
Unlike the Axie Infinity incident, the perpetrator didn’t use crypto mixer services or decentralized exchanges, allowing Binance to trace and block some of the funds.