Hackers target gamers in $615 million cryptocurrency theft. The hackers stole 173,600 Ether, the second most popular crypto coin after Bitcoin, and 25.5 million USDC.
The game at the heart of the theft, Axie Infinity, is set in a fictional universe where players can collect, trade and play with virtual creatures called Axies. The Axies are traded in the form of non-fungible tokens or NFTs, and sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Axie and other “play-to-earn” games allow players to spend crypto and earn financial rewards. Axie Infinity runs on the Ronin blockchain network, from whose wallet the crypto was stolen.
