- Hackers have siphoned funds from the co-founder of Sky Mavis Jeff Zirlin
- Zirlin said that the security breach only affected his personal crypto wallets and not the Ronin network
- The hack comes a few weeks after Ripple’s Chris Larsen suffered a similar ordeal
Malicious actors are now targeting top figures in the web3 space with Sky Mavis co-founder Jeff Zirlin being the latest victim. Zirlin reported that his personal crypto wallets had been compromised, clarifying that the security breach didn’t spill over to the Ronin network. The Sky Mavis executive’s predicament comes three weeks after Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen lost over $100 million in XRP in a hack, a sign that web3 users should put multiple security layers on their assets.
It’s Not Unusual
According to blockchain security firm PeckShield, the hackers siphoned close to $10 million worth of ETH. PeckShield added that the funds have since been transferred to crypto-mixing service Tornado Cash, complicating tracing and recovery efforts.
#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It appears a whale wallet has been compromised, & ~3,248 $ETH (worth ~$9.7m) from the #Ronin Bridge was withdrawn and transferred to #TornadoCash pic.twitter.com/sRK36BQFDu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
In an X (formerly Twitter) post, the Sky Mavis executive disclosed that the breach affected two of his addresses with on-chain security firm Webacy noting that the stolen funds were first deposited in “at least three wallets.”
This has been a tough morning for me.
Two of my addresses have been compromised.
The attack is limited to my personal accounts, and has nothing to do with validation or operations of the Ronin chain.
Additionally, the leaked keys have nothing to do with Sky Mavis operations.…
— Jihoz.ron 🦌 (@Jihoz_Axie) February 23, 2024
Aleksander Larsen, another Sky Mavis co-founder, reiterated Zirlin’s statement that the Ronin network is safe. According to Larsen, Zirlin’s predicament isn’t unusual, noting that it’s “like what happens on every chain.”
An Automatic Network Halt
Larsen also revealed that the Ronin network has undergone “many audits” to improve its security. The executive added that the chain automatically “goes on pause when too much is being withdrawn,” a feature that provides an additional safeguard in case of a hack.
The bridge has no issue and Ronin is not compromised.
Extremely misleading title.
A wallet has clearly been compromised like what happens on every chain, and the funds are being tornado cashed.
The bridge itself has top security, been through many audits and goes on pause when…
— Psycheout.ron (@Psycheout86) February 23, 2024
The hack on Zirlin’s crypto wallets comes roughly a week after Ronin DEX disclosed its planning to slash LP rewards by half and a month after Ronin Wallet introduced multichain support.
With Zirlin not disclosing how the hackers got into his wallets, there remains a possibility that the hackers may have compromised more wallets on the Ronin network.
