Prominent group of Filipino Axie players unaffected by massive crypto heist
MANILA, Philippines — Yield Guild Games, a Philippines-based players' guild that loans out Axie Infinity assets, said its roster of players was unaffected when a hacker stole $625 million from the Ronin network, a blockchain central to the NFT game.
According to Luis Buenventura, YGG Pilipinas country manager, the stolen coins did not belong to any of their players. YGG shot into prominence in the past two years as they rode the wave of popularity of play-to-earn games like Axie Infinity around the country.
"No player funds were reported as lost and thus no refunds have been offered. The tokens lost in the bridge hack do not belong to any of our end-users, and thus there has been no impact on YGG players or scholars," Buenaventura said in an interview.
"Thus far, the only impact on YGG Pilipinas is that some exchange services were put on hold for maintenance and monitoring, but tokens may still be freely moved within the Ronin ecosystem," he added.
This was one of the largest heists in decentralized finance, as the hacker was able to loot 173,600 Ethereum (worth around $600 million) and 25.5 million USDC (which is pegged to the US currency).
For now, it remains unclear if there are Filipino players outside YGG Pilipinas who were affected by the heist. Sought for comment, Nix Eniego, Philippines' lead for Axie Infinity, referred Philstar.com to a substack link explaining the exploit.
"We are working with law enforcement officials, forensic cryptographers, and our investors to make sure all funds are recovered or reimbursed. All of the AXS, RON, and SLP on Ronin are safe right now," the statement read.
In 2021, YGG was reportedly managing some 4,700 Axie Infinity scholars.
"Scholars" became a household term nationwide as reports last year came out detailing how some Filipinos turned to the game for additional income or even quit their full-time jobs to play. The dynamic works this way: A scholar plays games under a manager or a gaming guild, which owns the NFT assets, and is rewarded for their efforts by getting an agreed-upon share of the profits.
Axie Infinity has been grown to the size that the national government took notice last year, announcing plans to tax cryptocurrency deals in the country.
The Ronin network is run by Sky Mavis, which operates Axie Infinity as well. The network exists as a bridge for transactions, such as real-time currency conversion between the NFT game and other cryptocurrency blockchains.
Sky Mavis only uncovered the hack on Tuesday, six days after the heist occurred. The hack was discovered after a user complained they were having difficulties withdrawing 5,000 worth of Ethereum from the Ronin bridge.
The hacker used private keys to forge withdrawals. However, the attacker has been traced and all the stolen coins are stuck in the hacker's wallet.
So far, transactions within the Ronin network in global exchange giant Binance remain suspended. The Ronin network said that all of the Axie Infinity Shards, Ronin, and Sweet Love Potion on the network are safe now.
"We know trust needs to be earned and are using every resource at our disposal to deploy the most sophisticated security measures and processes to prevent future attacks," Ronin said in its newsletter.
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