PlayDapp Security Breach Escalates: Cumulative Losses Surpass $290 Million Mark

cryptonews.com:

The recent PlayDapp security breach has taken a grim turn, with cumulative losses now exceeding $290 million.

According to a report by blockchain analytics firm Elliptic, the exploit resulted in the theft of millions worth of PLA tokens, the native cryptocurrency powering PlayDapp’s gaming platform and NFT marketplace.

The report, released on Tuesday, revealed that an unauthorized wallet, likely obtained through a compromise of private keys, minted 200 million PLA tokens valued at $36.5 million on February 9. 

Following the incident, PlayDapp attempted to negotiate with the hacker, issuing an on-chain message requesting the return of the stolen funds by February 13, offering a $1 million white hat reward.

However, these efforts proved futile.

“Attempts to negotiate with the hacker were unsuccessful as they showed no willingness to help recover holders’ losses,” PlayDapp wrote in a statement on Tuesday.

Instead, the hacker escalated the situation by minting an additional 1.59 billion PLA tokens, valued at a staggering $253.9 million, on February 12.

They then began laundering the funds through various crypto exchanges.

Elliptic noted that prior to the breaches, the total circulating supply of PLA tokens was 577 million, making it challenging for the exploiter to sell the newly minted 1.8 billion tokens at anywhere close to their previous market value.

On February 13, PlayDapp announced on the social media platform X that they had paused the PLA smart contract.

The PLA smart contract has been paused.
We kindly request the halt of transactions to conduct a snapshot for migration.
Please understand that we are doing everything to protect holders' assets, and we will continue to keep the community updated.

— PlayDapp (@playdapp_io)