Mixin Network Says Only Half of User Assets are Safe After $200 Million Hack

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Updated: 25 September 2023

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Decentralized peer-to-peer network Mixin Network said it can only guarantee the security of 50% of user funds after a $200 million breach.

“No matter what your assets are — whether it’s Bitcoin or Ethereum — we will ensure that half of it is unaffected,” said Mixin founder Feng Xiaodong in a live broadcast. “We’re trying to find a way to recover the compromised money, but that is very difficult.”

The news about the security breach caused a 5% drop in XIN, the network’s digital currency.

XIN, Mixin’s token, current trading — Source: CoinGecko

Mixin Suspends Some Services Temporarily

Due to the security breach, Mixin Network has temporarily halted its deposit and withdrawal services. It also said it’s sought assistance from Google and SlowMist, a blockchain security company, to help with the ongoing investigation.

[Announcement] In the early morning of September 23, 2023 Hong Kong time, the database of Mixin Network's cloud service provider was attacked by hackers, resulting in the loss of some assets on the mainnet. We have contacted Google and blockchain security company @SlowMist_Team…

— Mixin Kernel (@MixinKernel) September 25, 2023

Deposit and withdrawal services will continue to be on hold until any security issues have been found and fixed, and all the network’s nodes agree on the solution, it said. Transfers on the platform are not impacted during this time.

SlowMist Joins Mixin Investigation

SlowMist confirmed its involvement in the investigation and said the attack on the cloud service provider database occurred on September 23 and resulted in approximately $200 million worth of crypto assets.

🚨SlowMist Security Alert🚨

On September 23, the Mixin Network cloud service provider database was attacked, the amount of funds involved was ~ $200M.

SlowMist is assisting in the investigation. Please wait for @MixinKernel updates for more information.

— SlowMist (@SlowMist_Team) September 25, 2023

At the time of the hacking incident, Mixin Network held approximately $94.48 million worth of Ether (ETH), $23.55 million in Dai (DAI), and $23.3 million in Bitcoin (BTC). These discoveries came to light through an independent investigation performed by PeckShield. Altogether, Mixin Network’s asset portfolio was estimated to have a total value of around $141.32 million.

Mixin Network portfolio (Source: PeckShield)

To recover the remaining assets affected by the hack, Feng mentioned the idea of issuing “bond tokens,” which he said Mixin Network would buy back at a later date.

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