- The WazirX hacker has laundered 27,600 ETH through Tornado Cash, with only 34,154 ETH left from the stolen funds.
- North Korean hackers have been targeting Bitcoin ETF issuers and crypto firms, triggering serious FBI warnings.
The ongoing investigation into the WazirX hacking incident has uncovered additional information regarding the attackers and their actions. The hacker responsible for the incident now owns around 34,154 ETH, which is equivalent to around $83 million. This is approximately 55% of the total digital assets stolen during the incident.
Over the previous week, the hacker is said to have delivered an additional 20,000 ETH, worth roughly $47 million, to Tornado Cash, a decentralized site known for obscuring crypto transactions.
In total, the hacker laundered over 27,600 ETH, which is worth approximately $65.5 million. SpotOnChain, a blockchain analytics firm, announced these new advances in one of its most recent tweets.
🚫 The WazirX hacker now only holds 34,154 $ETH ($83M) ~ 55% of their stolen amount.
In the past 7 days, the hacker sent a total of 20K $ETH ($46.97M) to #TornadoCash, bringing the total $ETH laundered to 27.6K $ETH ($65.5M).
Follow @spotonchain and set alerts for more updates… https://t.co/gyh1VHD0Qc pic.twitter.com/JkDOllKWWv
— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) September 14, 2024
Hacker Exploits Tornado Cash to Obscure Stolen Funds Through DeFi
SpotOnChain’s insights suggest that the hacker is systematically attempting to cover their traces by using Tornado Cash, a platform frequently connected with illegal activity due to its capacity to mix and anonymize crypto transactions.
Tornado Cash has already been identified as facilitating money laundering and has become a popular tool for fraudsters wanting to cash out stolen assets.
The WazirX hacker’s use of this service serves as an example of how criminals can profit from the relative anonymity that these networks offer by utilizing decentralized finance (DeFi) infrastructure.
On September 11, CNF revealed that the WazirX hacker had already transferred 10,000 ETH and was laundering the stolen assets via Tornado Cash and new wallets.
At that time, despite laundering more than $30 million in ETH, the hacker still had $115 million in stolen cryptocurrency. These data demonstrate the significant financial impact of the hack, as well as the size of the funds still in the attacker’s possession.
On the other hand, our prior report has identified North Korean hackers as a potential threat to the crypto business. North Korean cybercriminals have apparently targeted Bitcoin ETF issuers and crypto organizations with sophisticated social engineering assaults, prompting the FBI to issue warnings.
These attacks highlight the crypto sector’s ever-increasing weaknesses, putting even cybersecurity specialists in danger from such elaborate tactics.