1. Ronin Network – A Game Turned Nightmare
In 2022, the blockchain behind Axie Infinity, Ronin Network, fell victim to a devastating exploit. Hackers managed to take control of validator nodes—essentially gaining the keys to the kingdom. With this access, they drained over $600 million in ETH and USDC. What made this hack even more alarming? It went unnoticed for days. The breach exposed a critical lesson: even fast-growing ecosystems need airtight security, especially when tied to real money games.
2. Poly Network – The Heist With a Plot Twist
Imagine waking up to see $600 million vanish from a DeFi protocol—then watching it all get returned. That’s exactly what happened to Poly Network in 2021. An attacker exploited a bug in the code and drained funds across three major blockchains. But instead of cashing out, the hacker gave the assets back and claimed they were "just testing." It sounded like a movie script, but it was very real. The event sparked new conversations about white-hat hacking and how we handle vulnerabilities.
