PlayDapp Gaming Platform Suffers $290 Million Loss in Dual Exploits

On February 12th, a hacker executed a second breach of the PlayDapp blockchain gaming platform, minting 1.59 billion PLA tokens valued at $253.9 million at market price.

? ICYMI: #Crypto gaming and #NFT platform PlayDapp loses $290 million worth of tokens in two exploits, hacker minted 1.79 billion $PLA tokens worth over $290 million through the exploits.

More Details https://t.co/i9Vlk2miXc pic.twitter.com/Uth6lACY4T

— BNB Swap (@BNBSwap) February 14, 2024

The first incident occurred on February 9th. An unknown individual minted 200 million PLA ($36.5 million) from an unauthorized wallet, distributing the assets across multiple addresses and laundering them through crypto platforms.

The PlayDapp team sent a message to the perpetrator via an on-chain transaction, offering a $1 million reward for returning the stolen funds by February 13th. Failing that, the amount would become a bounty for assistance in capturing the hacker.

“Attempts to negotiate with the hacker were unsuccessful, as he showed no willingness to help owners recover losses. His subsequent attack resulted in an additional issuance of 1.59 billion PLA,” stated a statement from PlayDapp.

Analysts from Elliptic noted that the hacker also began laundering these funds through various exchanges.

“Before the breaches, the total amount of PLA in circulation was 577 million, so the hacker may find it difficult to sell 1.8 billion newly minted tokens at a price close to their market value before the breach,” they added.

PlayDapp developers outlined measures taken following the incidents, which include:

• an internal investigation;
• tracking the tokens minted by the hacker;
• engaging with centralized exchanges and DEX.

The platform team suspended the PLA smart contract and announced plans for a security migration.

Since February 9th, the token’s price has fallen from ~$0.18 to ~$0.15 at the time of writing (CoinGecko). Over the past seven days, PLA has decreased by nearly 15%.

In January, losses to the crypto industry from hacks and fraud totaled ~$126.8 million, according to Immunefi.

This figure does not include the theft of ~213 million XRP worth $112.5 million from Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen. Read more.