Mixin halts withdrawals as network suffers $200M loss in hack

Attackers gained unauthorized access to the Mixin Network’s cloud service provider’s centralized database

September 25, 2023 06:31 am

leksiv

Mixin Network, a cross-chain transactional network for digital assets, suspended deposits and withdrawals following a hack that led to the loss of $200 million in funds over the weekend.

The breach occurred after attackers managed to infiltrate the database of Mixin Network’s cloud service provider.

Mixin is engaging with both Google and blockchain security firm SlowMist to aid in the ongoing investigation.

“After discussion and consensus among all nodes, these services will be reopened once the vulnerabilities are confirmed and fixed,” the team said in an X post on Monday.

“During this period, transfers are not affected,” it added.

They plan to provide users with guidance on handling lost assets in a forthcoming solution.

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Mixin, backed by prominent Chinese influencer Li Xiaolai, describes itself as a peer-to-peer network using a directed acyclic graph (DAG) data structure, designed to tackle scalability and privacy challenges observed in blockchains such as Bitcoin and Ethereum.

The mainnet operated on 26 full nodes as of July, with the network holding assets valued at $1.1 billion, according to a monthly report.

Some X users indicated criticism regarding the project’s level of “decentralization,” pointing to its reliance on a centralized frontend. Even genuinely decentralized protocols can be vulnerable to centralized points of failure.

Mixin’s $200 million breach now stands among the biggest crypto hacks this year and makes it one of the all-time largest, following notable incidents like the Ronin Network, Poly Network and BNB Bridge hacks.

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