PanamaTimes

Monday, Oct 26, 2026

CoinDesk exec says latest crypto heist 'one of the biggest' in history

CoinDesk exec says latest crypto heist 'one of the biggest' in history

Pete Pachal, CoinDesk's chief of staff for the content team, weighed in on "one of the biggest hacks in crypto history" on Wednesday, arguing that the gaming-focused Ronin Network's announcement of a security breach shows that "things start to get a little dicey" when moving further away from core cryptocurrency products.

Pachal provided the insight on "Mornings with Maria" one day after Ronin Network announced a loss of over $625 million in USDC and ether, CoinDesk reported, noting that the hack impacted Ronin Network validator nodes for the publishers of the popular Axie Infinity game, Sky Mavis, and the Axie DAO.

"The attacker used hacked private keys in order to forge fake withdrawals," a Ronin Network blog post published on Tuesday noted, adding that while the network has safety tools in place to protect against hacks like this, "the attacker found a backdoor."

Pachal argued that what the hack shows is that "not all blockchains are created equal."

"This has more to do with the hack on the Axie Infinity network as opposed to a hack on primary blockchain like Bitcoin or Ether," he went on to note.

The Ronin Network blog post noted that the network is "working with law enforcement officials, forensic cryptographers, and our investors to make sure all funds are recovered or reimbursed."

Pachal noted that federal authorities have been cracking down on security breaches like this.

"Recently we’ve seen the Feds put big charges on the Bitfinex [cryptocurrency exchange] hack from 2016, which was another big crypto hack," he noted

In February, the Department of Justice announced, two people were arrested for an alleged conspiracy to launder cryptocurrency that was stolen during the 2016 hack of Bitfinex, valued at about $4.5 billion. THE DOJ noted that as of February, law enforcement seized more than $3.6 billion in cryptocurrency linked to that hack.


Pachal also pointed out that a lot of stolen funds "were reversed" from the hack of the Poly Network, a decentralized finance platform that helps link blockchains together,

He noted that the Poly Network hack is the "biggest" crypto heist in history.

Poly Network announced in August that almost all of the $610 million stolen had been returned by the unknown person or persons behind the attack, Reuters reported at the time.

"A lot of people assume that you can get away with this because it’s crypto, but actually the Feds and analysis companies are getting really good about tracing these hacks and seeing that the people who perpetrate them are brought to justice," Pachal said. "It’s getting better and better all the time."

Newsletter

Related Articles

PanamaTimes
0:00
0:00
Close
Advertising trick: Pepsi’s Harrier Jet Commercial Led to a $700,000 Court Fight
Why 2027 Could Be a Strong Year for Stocks—and Why the Forecast Is Fragile
Trump’s Top General Seeks an Exit Strategy From Iran War, Report Says
Brock Lesnar Retires From Wrestling, Closing a Career of Rare Athletic Range and Lasting Controversy
Trump-Era Policy Shifts Test the Boundaries of U.S. Institutions
Weight-Loss Drug Boom Tests the Limits of Prescription Advertising Rules
Breaking With the Past: One of the World’s Smallest Countries Changes Its Name
AI Is Remaking the US Economy, From GDP Growth to iPhone Prices
Cuba’s Grid Fails Again as Fuel Crisis Deepens
Nazca Lines Flight Crash Kills Thirteen as Peru Suspends Aerodiana
OpenAI Faces Demands for Full Disclosure After Models Breach Hugging Face
FIFA’s Private-Investment Plan for World Cup Rights Draws European Revolt
Why Americans Queue for $15 Ice Cream and a $100 Caviar Pint
OpenAI Sued After ChatGPT Allegedly Discouraged Emergency Care Before Near-Fatal Embolism
Miliband Sets Climate and International Law at Centre of UK Diplomacy
Trump Readies New Tariffs as Temporary Global Levy Nears Expiry
Morgan Stanley Builds a Wall Street Lead in AI Infrastructure Finance
High Prices Push Coffee Drinkers Toward Whole Beans and Home Brewing
Spain Defeats Argentina in Extra Time to Win Second World Cup
Venezuela’s Earthquake Devastation Turns U.S. Investment Opportunity Into a Thirty-Seven Billion Dollar Reconstruction Challenge
Ukrainian Drones Strike Wildberries Warehouses Deep Inside Russia
The Ledger Will Not Trust on Faith
Trump Administration Pressures Banks to Restrict Financial Access for Undocumented Immigrants
The Ten World Cup Finals That Defined Football History
Smartphones Are Getting More Expensive, Sales Are Collapsing, and Even Apple Admits: "Prices Will Rise"
The AI Race Enters Its Infrastructure Era
Colombia Influencer Dies After Cosmetic Procedure at Unlicensed Bogota Salon
A Quiet Bastille Day: France Grapples with World Cup Heartbreak and Leftover Fireworks
Spain in Ecstasy: "We Feel Unbeatable, We Taught the Whole World a Lesson"
On the Island That Did Not Yield to Trump, There Is No Electricity, and 10 Million Live in Darkness
World Cup Visitors Turn American Big-Box Stores Into Souvenir Stops
Anthropic Reengineers Agentic Architecture to Shift Autonomous Workplace Automation to the Cloud
Global Crisis Alert: Escalating Middle East Tensions and UK Political Upheaval
Japanese Technology Firm Fujitsu Launches Advanced Artificial Intelligence Tool for Corporate Disclosures
South Africa Officially Launches Nationwide Campaign for Highly Contested Local Government Elections
United Kingdom Commits Additional Funding for Unexploded Ordnance Clearance in Laos
Singapore Announces Stringent New Greenhouse Gas Regulations for Commercial Cooling Systems
Cambodia and Thailand Hold High-Level Border Security Talks at United Nations Headquarters
Myanmar Military Government and China Sign Major Agreement to Upgrade Media and Cultural Cooperation
Knife Attack at Swiss Train Station Leaves Three Injured in Suspected Act of Domestic Terrorism
Transnational Extortion Gang Threatens Canadian Police With Army of One Thousand Armed Operatives
Australia Imposes Forty-Two-Day Quarantine on Cruise Ship Passengers Following Deadly Hantavirus Outbreak
International Monetary Fund Unlocks Seven Hundred Million United States Dollars for Sri Lanka Following Economic Reforms
Australia Launches Record One Point Four Billion Dollar Lawsuit Against Chemical Giant 3M Over Contamination
China and Canada Foreign Ministers Meet in Ottawa in Effort to Stabilize Strained Diplomatic Ties
Indonesia Demands Urgent United Nations Security Council Reform Amid Escalating Global Conflicts
Extreme Weather Patterns Trigger Severe Drought in Madagascar and Destructive Flooding in East Africa
Indian State of Karnataka Faces Political Upheaval as Chief Minister Siddaramaiah Abruptly Resigns
Philippines and Japan Reaffirm Defense Ties as Crucial for Indo-Pacific Regional Stability
Norway Joins French Nuclear Deterrence Initiative in Major Shift for European Security Architecture
×