A hacker last week stole roughly $625M from Ronin - a decentralized finance ("DeFi") network - according to Sky Mavis, the Vietnam-based game developer behind the popular crypto game "Axie Infinity." The breach was discovered Tues.
Axie Infinity allows users to earn tokens while playing, which may be redeemed in exchange for the cryptocurrency Ethereum.
DeFi is building entire new worlds that combine the fun of game play with the very real stakes of commerce. Although there's enormous potential to unlock economic value, these half-real, half-virtual worlds are dangerous and they demand regulation.
All great industries are built on the back of trial and error. Hackers expose vulnerabilities, and responsible tech pioneers are constantly working to strengthen these innovative new forms of economic exchange and empowerment. Most of these hacks are limited to crosschain bridges, which are inherently weak nodes in the system.