Whitehats return $10m in Ether after MEV bug

Ronin Network has recovered approximately $10 million worth of digital assets it lost in a MEV attack that took place in the early hours of August 6.

According to a post by X, white hats have returned approximately 4,000 Ethereum (ETH) that was taken from Axie Infinity’s Ronin Bridge via a Maximum Extractable Value or MEV bug.

MEV refers to the maximum value that miners or validators can extract from permissionless transaction orders. The concept is sometimes referred to as an “invisible tax” collected by complex on-chain actors and is widely debated in the crypto community.

Ronin Network said that white hats who return the funds will receive a $500,000 bug bounty. Paying ethical hackers to discover loopholes is common in web3, encouraging security experts to make money by stress-testing decentralized finance protocols.

To prevent similar incidents from happening in the future, the project will audit its bridge and implement a new system for the cross-chain transaction terminal.

“We aim to move the bridge’s operation away from the current architecture. We will work with Ronin validators to deploy a new solution and will provide updates on this as the work progresses,” the team said.

Update:

ETH (~$10M) has been returned and we expect USDC to be returned later today. We thank the white hats for their attention and honesty. The Bug Bounty Program will reward white hats with 500K.

The bridge will undergo inspection before entering service.

— Ronin (@Ronin_Network) August 6, 2024

Previous Ronin hacks

Ronin Network (RON) and its bridging service have seen turbulent times over the years. In March 2022, North Korean hacker group Lazarus stole $600 million from the sidechain. The incident is still considered one of the largest crypto attacks in history.

In February 2024, criminals stole $9.7 million from Axie Infinity co-founder Jeff “Jihoz” Zirlin. However, the cross-chain bridge has survived the existential catastrophe, is listed on Coinbase, and hopes to survive the uncertain times. Giants like Binance have also stepped in to support the network and refund users.