Axie Infinity NFT game reopens transactions months after $625 million theft

Image: Sky Mavis

The link that allows users to transfer funds to and from accounts in the game has reopened after a $625 million theft. Sky Mavis said that players can now use the bridge to make deposits and withdrawals.

Sky Mavis worked to bolster its security protocols and recover users' funds, which led to the closing of the Ronin Bridge. A user tried to withdraw funds but couldn't because of the attack. Sky Mavis blamed a spear-phishing attack and lack of a tracking system for the loss of an employee's account.

The North Korean hacking group Lazarus was blamed by the US Treasury Department for the hack. Sky Mavis originally planned to have the bridge up and running by the end of April but later delayed its reopening due to the fact that the bridge will secure billions of dollars in assets.

The Ronin Bridge is open!



• All user funds are fully backed 1:1 by the new bridge.

• The bridge has undergone an internal audit and two external audits.

• We are still on track to release Land Staking this week.



: https://t.co/QX9hY1xKYX

— Axie Infinity (@AxieInfinity) June 28, 2022

Sky Mavis said it would compensate players affected by the theft. Sky Mavis notes that users' funds are fully backed by the new bridge, but still hasn't made up for a lot of the stolen funds. The firm says that after pooling money from the founding members of the Sky Mavis team and receiving $150 million in funding from a number of companies, the firm is currently down 76,400 ETH and 25.5 millionUSDC. Sky Mavis claims to be reimbursing all of its liabilities.

There is a group of people who vote on decisions for the Axie community. Sky Mavis is working with law enforcement to get the money. The DAO will vote on the next steps if it doesn't recover them in two years.

Land Staking will be added this week, as well as another scheme to help generate rewards for players who have invested in the game. The creatures in the game are very similar and experimentation is not possible unless you want to spend a lot of money.

It is not clear what these changes will do to improve the actual gaming experience. Sky Mavis launched a new version of Axie Infinite: Origin to try and get more people to sign up.

The Ronin Bridge has undergone internal and external audits in order to prevent future thefts. Thecircuit-breaker system is designed to stop users from making large withdrawals. You can read about the update in Ronin's post on its website.