Ronin, an Ethereum side chain used to power the leading blockchain game, Axie Infinity, has been exploited for $625M.

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According to a blog post published by Ronin Network, Sky Mavis’ Ronin validator nodes and Axie DAO validator nodes got compromised on March 23rd. Notably, the breach went undiscovered until Tuesday after a user was unable to withdraw 5,000 ETH.

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This led to hacked private keys being used to forge fake withdrawals on the network, allowing the hacker to successfully steal a total of 173,600 ether and 25.5 million USDC, valued at around $625 million at the time of writing.

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“Sky Mavis’ Ronin chain currently consists of 9 validator nodes. In order to recognize a Deposit event or a Withdrawal event, five out of the nine validator signatures are needed,” the blog post said. “The attacker managed to get control over Sky Mavis’s four Ronin Validators and a third-party validator run by Axie DAO.”

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Since then, the hacker has transferred 6,250 ETH ($21M) and all 25.5 million USDC out to various wallets and DeFi protocols, as shown on Etherscan. If you were affected by the exploit, Ronin’s developers have promised that all stolen will be reimbursed.

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"We are currently working with law enforcement officials, forensic cryptographers, and our investors to make sure that all funds are recovered or reimbursed. All of the AXS, RON, and SLP [tokens] on Ronin are safe right now," Ronin tweeted.

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