PlayDapp has taken matters to the law enforcement after the hacker refused to cooperate in returning the funds. The gaming platform has paused all smart contracts for the moment.
PlayDapp, the popular crypto gaming and NFT platform, faced a major exploit on Tuesday, losing millions of dollars’ worth of PLA tokens. PLA is the native token powering PlayDapp and its NFT marketplace.
Blockchain analytics firm Elliptic reported on Tuesday that an unauthorized wallet minted 200 million PLA tokens worth a staggering $36.5 million last week on February 9. This is probably an outcome of the private key compromise for the wallets.
Following the incident, PlayDapp communicated with the exploiter via an on-chain transaction, urging them to return the misappropriated funds by 3:00 a.m. ET on February 13. Moreover, the platform also offered a $1 million white hat reward. Alternatively, if the hacker fails to return the funds, PlayDapp stated its intention to issue a $1 million white hat bounty to locate the hacker by working with law enforcement.
However, on Tuesday, PlayDapp updated that the negotiation attempts with the hacker had been unsuccessful. Instead of showing any willingness to recover the holders’ losses, the hacker minted an additional 1.59 billion PLA tokens on February 12, valued at $253.9 million. Reportedly, the hacker is now laundering these funds through other crypto exchanges. In its report, Elliptic noted:
“Before the breaches, the total circulating supply of PLA tokens was 577 million, so the exploiter may find it difficult to sell the 1.8 billion newly-minted tokens at anything close to their market value prior to the hacks.”
PlayDapp Pauses All Smart Contracts on the Platform
On February 13, PlayDapp announced on the social media platform X that they had temporarily paused the PLA smart contract.
“We kindly request a pause in transactions to conduct a snapshot for migration,” the announcement stated. “Please understand that we are taking all necessary steps to safeguard holders’ assets, and we will continue to provide updates to the community.”
PlayDapp further mentioned its collaboration with cryptocurrency exchanges, law enforcement agencies, and blockchain forensic firms. Additionally, it is actively monitoring minted and swapped tokens and exploring migration solutions such as an airdrop. The PlayDapp platform is also seeking valuable assistance from DEX operators and has urged decentralized exchanges to pause all liquidity poll activities on a temporary basis.
As of press time, PlayDapp’s PLA token was trading at $0.15, reflecting a 2.9% decrease over the previous 24 hours.
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