Ronin Network Recovers $10M ETH After Bridge Exploit, Audit Underway

• Ronin Network recovers $10M ETH after a bridge exploit; USDC recovery is expected soon.
• Ronin Bridge to undergo a thorough audit and operational restructuring for enhanced security.

Following a potential exploit on the Ronin Bridge, important events have occurred in the Ronin Network. According to a recent release, the network has successfully recovered around $10 million in ETH, with USDC expected to be returned later.

The network thanked the white-hat hackers for their alertness and integrity, and confirmed that these ethical hackers would be awarded a $500K prize under the Bug Bounty Program.

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

Comprehensive Audit and Operational Overhaul Planned for Ronin Bridge After Exploit 

In light of the exploit, the Ronin Bridge will be thoroughly audited before reopening to guarantee that the highest security standards are met. Regular updates will be provided as the audit progresses.

Additionally, Ronin intends to change the bridge’s operation away from its existing structure, engaging with Ronin validators to implement a new solution. As the project continues, we will provide additional updates.

Initially, white-hat hackers notified the Ronin team of a potential exploit. After reviewing the reports, the bridge was paused for about 40 minutes after the initial on-chain activity was noticed. The exploit resulted in the withdrawal of around 4,000 ETH and 2 million USDC, for a total value of around $12 million.

Notably, this is the maximum amount that may be withdrawn in a single transaction due to the bridge’s restriction, which serves as an important safeguard to improve the security of large money withdrawals. This limit essentially prevented any additional damage during the exploit.

The consequence of the exploit has had a significant impact on the performance of Ronin’s native token, RON. At the time of writing, RON was trading around $1.44, down 1.24% over the last 24 hours, with a daily trading volume of $23.27 million.

However, there have been some encouraging advancements inside the Ronin Network. At the end of July, CNF reported a huge rise in daily active addresses (DAA) of 93%, adding 1,422,651 new wallets in 14 days.

Pixel dominated the growth with 766.3 thousand new wallets, followed by Lumiterra and Wild Forest. This rapid growth has positioned Ronin as the most popular blockchain, with 2.05 million DAA in just two weeks.

Furthermore, it was earlier noted that the network has topped 205 million RON staked, with over 290,000 delegators participating. This participation improves network security and pays both validators and delegators, resulting in a stable and safe environment for the Ronin Network.