Wemix Foundation Delays Announcing $6.2M Exploit to Prevent Market Panic

Wemix Foundation CEO Kim Seok-hwan said the decision to delay announcing a $6.2 million exploit was made to prevent market panic and avoid further attacks.

Wemix, the blockchain subsidiary of South Korean game developer studio Live Impact, has disclosed a $6.2 million exploit on its Play Bridge, impacting the Wemix token and sparking concern among crypto enthusiasts.

The exploit, which occurred in February, resulted in the theft of 8.65 million Wemix tokens, valued at approximately $6.2 million at current rates. The incident was reported to the Seoul National Police Agency’s Cyber Investigation Team, and early findings suggest the attack was not carried out by North Korea-linked Lazarus Group, which has been behind past crypto hacks.

The Wemix Foundation, headed by CEO Kim Seok-hwan, decided to delay announcing the exploit to prevent market panic and avoid further attacks.

Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Kim denied any attempt to cover up the breach, which was first revealed on March 4—four days after the attack.

The incident began with an attacker gaining access to an authentication key linked to Nile, Wemix’s NFT platform, and performing a cross-chain operation to siphon Wemix tokens from Play Bridge.

According to Kim, the hacker was highly skilled and spent two months preparing for the attack. He made 15 withdrawal attempts, 13 of which were successful. The total stolen amount was nearly 8.7 million Wemix tokens.

Once the breach was detected, Wemix shut down the compromised server and launched an investigation. The Cyber Investigation Team is currently examining the incident to identify the attacker and determine the method used.

Despite efforts to control market impact, WEMIX dropped nearly 40%, falling from $0.70 on Feb. 27 to $0.42 by March 4. To stabilize prices, the Wemix Foundation announced a $6.9 million token buyback on March 13, followed by another 20 million token purchase. The move briefly pushed the token back above $0.70 before settling around $0.60.

Kim said the team strengthened security and will resume full Wemix services on Friday on a new blockchain infrastructure.