Sky Mavis Raises $150 Million in Financing Round Led by Binance to Refund Users Affected by the Ronin Bridge Exploit

Sky Mavis, the company behind the play-to-earn (P2E) game Axie Infinity, announced it has raised $150 million in a funding round to replenish the funds the company lost in the Ronin Network exploit. The funding round — which was led by Binance and had the participation of companies like Animoca Brands, a16z, Dialectic, Paradigm, and Accel — constitutes part of the actions the company is taking to recover its ecosystem and reimburse users.

Sky Mavis Raises Funds to Replenish Its Ronin Bridge

Sky Mavis, the operator of Axie Infinity, a recognized play-to-earn (P2E) video game in the Web3 ecosystem, has finally announced the actions it will take to recover the funds lost and restore trust in its Ronin Network. The company revealed a funding round where it raised $150 million, led by Binance with the participation of companies in the play-to-earn field like Animoca Brands, and other firms like a16z, Dialectic, Paradigm, and Accel.

On the participation of Binance in this round, Changpeng Zhao, CEO of the exchange, stated:

We strongly believe Sky Mavis will bring a lot of value and growth for the larger industry and we believe it’s necessary to support them as they work hard to resolve the recent incident.

Other Actions On the Way

The company also informed about another set of actions it will be taking as a result of the exploit the Ronin Bridge suffered. Sky Mavis declared that with the new funds and other funds taken from its treasury, all of the users’ accounts affected will be reimbursed. However, the 56K ethereum that was taken will remain under-collateralized as the company works with law enforcement to recover its cryptocurrency stash.

The company will also address the limited validator number that was a factor in the exploit. On this, Trung Nguyen, CEO of Sky Mavis, declared:

With the support of Binance and other industry leaders, we will be able to quickly expand the validator set from five to 21 validators to ensure the security of the Ronin network.

The Ronin Network bridge, which is still non-operational since the aforementioned exploit, will be reopened once it undergoes new security audits, which Sky Mavis has declared can take several weeks. The company said it is taking security more seriously now, and is undergoing “rigorous internal security measures” to prevent similar new attacks that could have a social element.

What do you think about Sky Mavis’ $150 million funding round? Tell us in the comments section below.

Sergio Goschenko

Sergio is a cryptocurrency journalist based in Venezuela. He describes himself as late to the game, entering the cryptosphere when the price rise happened during December 2017. Having a computer engineering background, living in Venezuela, and being impacted by the cryptocurrency boom at a social level, he offers a different point of view about crypto success and how it helps the unbanked and underserved.

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