Ronin Network Recovers $10M ETH, USDC Recovery Underway

The Ronin Network has been able to recover approximately $10 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) that was stolen in a recent security breach. As of now, the network expects the US dollar-pegged stablecoin USDC to be returned later in the day.

Ronin Network Recovers $10M ETH

In a recent update from the Ronin Network team, all the stolen ETH has been recovered and this is thanks to the ethical hackers. The team is awaiting the return of the USDC later today. As a token of appreciation, it will give the white hat hackers $500,000 bounty for reporting the vulnerability and returning the stolen funds.

However, the Ronin bridge, through which assets can be transferred from Ethereum to the Ronin sidechain, will be audited before being reopened. This step is to guarantee the security of the bridge and to check it for possible future damages. 

Update:

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

The bridge will undergo an audit before it is…

— Ronin (@Ronin_Network) August 6, 2024

The team is also working with validators to introduce a new operational model for the bridge, with more information to be provided as the process continues.

Problem Behind the Security Breach

As per the report, the ethical hackers saw the hack at the early hours of Tuesday and estimated it to be a “MEV exploit.” The team confirmed the exploit was due to a flaw that was introduced in the bridge update recently.

This problem made the bridge fail to recognize the correct threshold of votes needed to withdraw the funds, resulting in unauthorized operations.

Adrian Hetman from Immunefi, a blockchain security firm, pointed out that such bridge upgrades usually come with new risks. These can be vulnerable if not well protected as has been the case with blockchain bridges’ attacks in the past. Thus, Hetman stressed the need for stringent security measures to be put in place to avoid such occurrences in the course of such upgrades

Ronin Bridge Hack Details

The Ronin Network exploit caused the loss of around 4000 ETH and $2 million USDC, and other assets totalling to $12 million. It was however possible to minimize the loss through placing certain measures that only allowed set amount in a withdrawal. This comes after the  bridge was attacked in March 2022 in what can be regarded as one of the biggest hacks in the history of cryptocurrency with the hackers making away with $622 million. This was established to have been carried out by the Lazarus hacking group.

Nonetheless, the team sought to reassure users of the bridge’s overall security, and commended the fast action and remediation. The bridge currently manages assets in excess of $850 million and this shows why tight security measures need to be in place.

On the same note, the network representatives have said that a comprehensive report of the attack will be released next week to detail the occurrence and the actions being taken to prevent such occurrences in the future.

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