$30 Million Stolen in Axie Infinity Exploit Now Recovered

According to blockchain analytics firm, Chainalysis, it managed to trace some $30 million worth of crypto stolen in the Axie Infinity exploit. Thanks to Chainalysis’ efforts, law enforcement has since recovered the funds, which amount to some 10% of the overall sum taken from the NFT-based video game.

The exploit took place in March 2022, when the attackers targeted Axie’s Ronin bridge and took off with $307 million worth of wETH and USDC. According to the U.S. Treasury, the attack was orchestrated by Lazarus, a hacker organization working for North Korea’s government.

In the meantime, Chainalysis had patiently tracked the funds, which were laundered and then transferred to a number of centralized exchanges. Law enforcement then managed to thwart Lazarus’ attempts to swap the crypto for fiat currency on these exchanges.

All users affected by the hack were refunded. However, Axie DAO treasury still has a substantial hole to fill, despite the recovered 10% of the money stolen.