Hackers Breach PlayDapp Gaming Platform for $31 Million

An unidentified hacker minted 200 million PLA tokens, valued at approximately $31 million, during a breach of the PlayDapp blockchain gaming platform, according to cybersecurity experts from PeckShield.

Hi @playdapp_io, you may want to take a look.

New 200m $PLA tokens were just freshly minted. It seems to be a private key leak and the new minter was just added in the following tx: https://t.co/tyxDksNwSt pic.twitter.com/SkjZsTjtdQ

— PeckShield Inc. (@peckshield) February 9, 2024

The incident also caught the attention of experts at Cyvers Alerts.

?UPDATE?Hey @playdapp_io, $5.9M worth of $PLA has been deposited to @gate_io exchange at https://t.co/781eNOHvxy

You may want to contact them to freeze these assets!#CyversALert https://t.co/SjYq9jaKfW

— ? Cyvers Alerts ? (@CyversAlerts) February 10, 2024

The perpetrator added their address as a minter and distributed the stolen tokens across several wallets. A portion, valued at $5.9 million, was transferred to the Gate.io cryptocurrency exchange.

The PlayDapp team confirmed the incident and the issuance of additional PLA tokens.

We have directly notified all partner exchanges and are collaborating with them to suspend trading and address the unauthorized tokens. We are working to resolve the issue. We will do our best to minimize the impact on PLA holders.

— PlayDapp (@playdapp_io) February 9, 2024

“We recognize the seriousness of the situation and are taking action. We have directly notified all partner exchanges and are collaborating with them to suspend trading of unauthorized tokens. We will do our utmost to minimize the impact on PLA holders,” stated PlayDapp.

Over the past 24 hours, the PLA token has fallen by 11.8%, according to CoinGecko. At the time of writing, the coin is trading below $0.16.

At the end of January, the DeFi protocol Abracadabra Finance lost $6.5 million in an attack.

Earlier that month, on-chain researcher ZachXBT reported a $112 million theft from Ripple following a hack.