By Tom Wilson
LONDON (Reuters) – Blockchain company Ronin said on Tuesday that hackers stole cryptocurrency worth almost $615 million from its systems, in what would be one of the largest cryptocurrency heists on record.
The project said that unidentified hackers stole on March 23 some 173,600 ether tokens and 25.5 million USD Coin tokens. At current exchange rates, the stolen funds are worth $614 million.
Ronin is used to power the popular Axie Infinity game, which uses non-fungible tokens (NFTs). It said in a blog post that the hacker had used stolen private keys – the passwords needed to access crypto funds – to make off with the funds.
Ronin said it had discovered the hack on Tuesday. “We are working directly with various government agencies to ensure the criminals get brought to justice,” it said, adding that it was discussing with Axie Infinity how to ensure no users’ funds were lost.
Ronin did not immediately respond to a request for comment sent via Twitter.
(Reporting by Tom Wilson, editing by Huw Jones)
Copyright 2022 Thomson Reuters.