Axie Infinity’s gaming-focused sidechain Ronin Network has been hacked for over $625 million worth of USDC and ether (ETH). The hack saw an attacker use “hacked private keys in order to forge fake withdrawals” from the Ronin bridge.

A subsidiary of the business intelligence firm MicroStrategy, MacroStrategy, has leveraged its Bitcoin holdings to borrow $205 million from Silvergate Bank, a bank focused on cryptocurrencies.

American exchange-traded fund (ETF) provider WisdomTree has expanded its cryptocurrency offerings in Europe with the launch of three new products offering investors exposure to Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), and Polkadot (DOT).

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Top stories in the Crypto Roundup today:

• Axie Infinity’s Ronin Network hacked for $625 Million
• MicroStrategy Subsidiary Borrows $205 Million to Invest in BTC
• WisdomTree Launches Solana, Cardano, and Polkadot ETPs

Axie Infinity’s Ronin Network hacked for $625 Million

Axie Infinity’s gaming-focused sidechain Ronin Network has been hacked for over $625 million worth of USDC and ether (ETH). The hack saw an attacker use “hacked private keys in order to forge fake withdrawals” from the Ronin bridge.

According to a blog post from Ronin’s official Substack, the exploit affected validator nodes for Sky Mavis, who are the publishers of the popular Axie Infinity game and the Axie DAO. While the sidechain has nine validators and requires five signatures or withdrawals, the attacker “found a backdoor,” the post adds.

The Ethereum address of Ronin’s attacker is a fresh one that transferred ETH in from Binance a week ago. At the time of writing some funds have been sent out to other addresses and the Ronin Bridge and the Katana automated market maker have been paused.

The post details Ronin lost 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USDC tokens., making it the largest hack a decentralized finance protocol has seen to date. In August 2021, a hacker stole $611 million from cross-chain decentralized finance protocol Poly Network, but returned the majority of the funds.

MicroStrategy Subsidiary Borrows $205 Million to Invest in BTC

A subsidiary of the business intelligence firm MicroStrategy, MacroStrategy, has leveraged its Bitcoin holdings to borrow $205 million from Silvergate Bank, a bank focused on cryptocurrencies.

The proceeds of the loan are set to cover fees related to loan transactions and general corporate costs, and to buy more BTC. It comes after MicroStrategy announced in June 2021 its 92,079 BTC would be held by MacroStrategy.

Since then the company has increased its BTC holdings to 124,391 coins and plans on moving the figure to roughly 128,687 BTC thanks to the recently secured loan.

The loan was made through the Silvergate Exchange Network Leverage program, which was launched in 2020 and provides access to capital through loans collateralized by BTC. It pays 3.7% over the secured overnight financing rate (SOFR).

WisdomTree Launches Solana, Cardano, and Polkadot ETPs

American exchange-traded fund (ETF) provider WisdomTree has expanded its cryptocurrency offerings in Europe with the launch of three new products offering investors exposure to Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), and Polkadot (DOT).

These are physically-backed exchange-traded products (ETPs) that are already listed on major European exchanges including Deutsche Boerse’s Xetra, the Swiss SIX exchange, and the Swiss Stock Exchange. 

Euronext is expected to list the ETPs in Amsterdam and Paris on Thursday. The products are designed to offer European investors exposure to these cryptoassets and have total expense ratios of 0.95%.

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