PlayDapp Suffers $290 Million Loss in Crypto Breach

Elliptic, a blockchain analytics company, reported that PlayDapp, a cryptocurrency gaming platform, experienced significant security breaches this month, leading to a loss of $290 million in crypto assets. The initial breach occurred on February 9th, attributed to a possible private key compromise, which allowed an unauthorized entity to create 200 million PLA tokens valued at $36.5 million at the time.

In response, PlayDapp announced a white hat reward, offering $1 million for the return of the stolen assets by February 13th. The company communicated this offer directly to the hackers via an on-chain message, stating the reward would be issued as a bounty should the assets not be returned by the specified deadline.

However, the situation escalated on February 12th when the attackers created an additional 1.59 billion PLA tokens, pushing the total value of the stolen assets to $253.9 million at that point.

Elliptic noted that the hackers have begun moving the tokens to various exchanges and accounts, diminishing the assets’ value since the breach. Given the original circulating supply of PLA tokens was 577 million, the significant increase in supply caused by the hack complicates the possibility of selling the newly created tokens at their pre-hack market value.

PlayDapp has taken steps to mitigate the impact of the theft, including notifying law enforcement and collaborating with blockchain intelligence firms to trace and potentially recover the stolen funds. The company indicated that the movement and exchange of the stolen tokens would be challenging due to these measures.

Elliptic has tagged the wallets associated with the breach in its analytical tools, enabling exchanges and other financial services to identify any transactions involving the hacked assets and take appropriate action.