As a seasoned crypto investor, I’ve seen my fair share of market volatility and security breaches. The news that the Poloniex hacker transferred over $3.4 million worth of Ether to Tornado Cash is concerning, to say the least. It’s a grim reminder that even after losing over $125 million in crypto assets in November 2023, some cybercriminals are still using anonymizing tools like Tornado Cash to launder their ill-gotten gains.
A hacker who orchestrated the Poloniex cryptocurrency exchange breach in November 2023 has more recently moved approximately 1,100 Ether (ETH) towards the cryptic mixing service, Tornado Cash, which is under international sanctions.
The hacker transferred Ether in installments, retaining control over approximately $180 million valued in various digital ledgers.
Poloniex Hacker Launders 1,120 ETH
Based on information from Arkham Intelligence, a hacker using Poloniex transferred Ethereum in eleven installments of 10 ETH each, totalling 1,100 ETH, or roughly $3.37 million. On May 7th, two additional transactions for 10 ETH, equivalent to approximately $61,400, were made within a four-hour timeframe.
Instead of Ether, a hacker using Poloniex transferred approximately $32 million in Bitcoin (501.62 BTC) to an unidentified Bitcoin wallet on April 30th. (Wallet address: bc1qt…xfekh)
As a crypto investor, I currently manage a portfolio valued at approximately $181.3 million. Among my holdings are Ether, TRX, Bitcoin (BTC), BTCT, and Floki. My largest investment is in Ether, with 25,563 coins worth around $78.6 million.
As a researcher investigating the events of November 2023, I can tell you that a significant loss occurred at Poloniex when approximately $125 million worth of crypto assets were taken by a hacker. Over 175 distinct tokens were pilfered from the exchange’s hot wallet.
After the cyberattack, Poloniex’s proprietor, Justin Sun, vowed to compensate in full those whose funds were compromised. Additionally, he put forth a proposal: a 5% reward for the hacker if they restored 95% of the pilfered funds within a week’s timeframe.
As a researcher studying blockchain security, I came across a significant discovery made by PeckShield in March 2023. They uncovered that the hackers responsible for the HECO Bridge exploit, which occurred in November of the same year, moved an astonishing amount of 40,391 ETH, equivalent to approximately $145.7 million, to Tornado Cash.
Tornado Cash Still Being Used by Rogue Actors
Recent findings reveal that cybercriminals persist in employing Tornado.Cash, a mixing service designed to conceal transaction histories, despite it being blacklisted by the United States Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) since August 2022.
Based on information from the United States Treasury Department, it is reported that a crypto mixing service was employed by criminal organizations like North Korea’s Lazarus Group for laundering ill-gotten gains.
After the imposition of OFAC sanctions, individuals involved in the creation of Tornado Cash have been accused of engaging in money laundering activities and breaching sanctions regulations.
Alexey Pertsev, one of the developers taken into custody in the Netherlands in August 2022, faced accusations from Dutch authorities for allegedly processing over $1.2 billion in cryptocurrency funds through a mixing service.
Roman Storm entered a plea of not guilty in the US court for accusations including the laundering of more than $1 billion in ill-gotten cryptocurrency funds, among other charges. Meanwhile, a third suspect, Roman Semenov, who has been added to the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctions list, remains at large.
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2024-05-07 23:33