Axie Infinity CEO Moved $3M Worth Of Tokens Prior To Announcing It Was Hacked
Back in March, play-to-earn pet battling game Axie Infinity was hacked and drained of cryptocurrency tokens worth over $600 million in what could be the biggest cryptocurrency heist in history. Following the hack, developer Sky Mavis was forced to shut down the system and freeze all user assets as they began their investigation into the matter.
In a perfect example of how cryptocurrency transactions can be traced if you’re willing to dig far enough, Axie Infinity CEO and Co-Founder Trung Nguyen had apparently moved $3 million worth of AXS tokens from Axie’s blockchain ecosystem to the Binance cryptocurrency exchange platform using his personal crypto wallet prior to announcing the hacking incident and freezing player assets. The transaction was publicly verified by independent experts and was later confirmed by Sky Mavis spokeswoman Kalie Moore via emails to Bloomberg.
According to Moore, the transfer was in line with Nguyen’s efforts to shore up Sky Mavis’ finances following and provide liquidity following the hacking incident. Moore said that Nguyen tried to hide the transaction for the good of Axie’s economy, which at that time was already failing.
“At the time, we understood that our position and options would be better the more AXS we had on Binance. This would give us the flexibility to pursue different options for securing the loans/capital required,” she said. “The Founding Team chose to transfer it from this wallet to ensure that short-sellers, who track official Axie wallets, would not be able to front-run the news.”
Moore maintained that any allegations of other motives behind the transfer are baseless. Nguyen followed up the statement with a series of tweets, saying that, “My life’s work is Axie Infinity and the community we’ve created together. I take ownership of the security breach, and will use it as a learning experience.”
Other Sky Mavis have also been allegedly moving AXS tokens in large amounts using their personal crypto wallets but Moore dismissed the accusations as mere speculation.
