Mixin Network Suspends Services Amid $200 Million Hack
On Monday, Mixin Network, a decentralized peer-to-peer network whose project team is based in Hong Kong, officially confirmed a substantial security breach that resulted in the loss of approximately $200 million in crypto assets from its mainnet.
September 23 hack
This incident, disclosed via an X (formerly Twitter) post, prompted the immediate suspension of all deposit and withdrawal services on Mixin Network until further notice.
The project team outlined that the hack occurred on September 23, exposing vulnerabilities that allowed malicious actors to compromise the database of a third-party cloud service provider. Mixin Network has taken action to address the situation, enlisting the expertise of Singapore-headquartered blockchain security investigator SlowMist and the support of Google to conduct a thorough investigation and formulate a recovery plan.
At the time of the breach, Mixin Network’s holdings included $94.48 million in Ether, $23.55 million in Dai, and $23.3 million in Bitcoin, as reported in an independent investigation by PeckShield. The total value of assets affected amounted to $141.32 million.
Cyvers, an Israeli Web3 security firm, has also been looking into the matter on Monday. In a social media post, the firm stated:
”Our internal investigation has uncovered suspicious funding transactions involving @MixinKernel hacker addresses. Two of hacker addresses received 51 $ETH from 0x1795F0eBDa5A836aE63F28CE546E72de069A8bd2 who was interacted with @HuobiGlobal and @binance.”
The firm goes on to call on Binance and its CEO Changpeng Zhao (CZ) and Huobi to help identify the wallet address in question.
Halting withdrawals
In response to the security breach, Mixin Network has temporarily halted all deposits and withdrawals on its platform. These services will only resume once the vulnerabilities have been identified and fully resolved. On X, the project stated:
”Deposit and withdrawal services on Mixin Network have been temporarily suspended. After discussion and consensus among all nodes, these services will be reopened once the vulnerabilities are confirmed and fixed. During this period, transfers are not affected.”
Details regarding the plans to recover the lost assets for affected users have yet to be announced.
Despite initial promises that Mixin Network’s Founder, Feng Xiaodong, would address the incident in a public Mandarin live stream on September 25, links to the live stream were not provided on the official social media channels or the website mixin.network.
The incident has garnered criticism on the basis of a lack of decentralization. One commentator stated:
”Some of those blockchain protocols are so decentralized that when their cloud database is hacked, coins are also gone.”
Ongoing hacks
This security breach on Mixin Network is the latest in a series of high-profile crypto-related incidents. Ethereum Co-Founder Vitalik Buterin recently fell victim to a SIM swap attack, which resulted in the compromise of his X (formerly Twitter) account.
In a statement, Buterin revealed that the hackers had successfully executed a SIM swap, a type of attack that targets the victim’s mobile phone number to gain unauthorized access to various online accounts, including social media, banking, and cryptocurrency platforms.
The repercussions of the Mixin Network hack underscore the ongoing challenges faced by the crypto industry in ensuring the security and protection of digital assets. As investigations continue, affected users await further developments and the eventual resumption of deposit and withdrawal services.
