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In a disturbing turn of events, the attacker behind the WazirX cryptocurrency breach, who made off with $100 million in Shiba Inu, continues to launder stolen Ethereum (ETH). According to Spot On Chain, a leading on-chain intelligence and analytics platform, the WazirX attacker recently initiated the transfer of 10,000 ETH, valued at approximately $23.3 million at the time of the transaction, as part of efforts to launder the stolen funds. This comes amidst Ethereum’s struggle to climb towards $2,400.
Explaining The Shiba Inu Hacker’s Activity
WazirX, one of India’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, suffered a breach in July that led to the theft of around $230 million in crypto assets. Most notable of these crypto assets included over $100 million worth of Shiba Inu and $52 million worth of ETH. According to Elliptic, the attack was carried out by hackers linked to North Korea.
According to Arkham Intelligence, a blockchain analytics firm, these hackers wasted no time in offloading their stolen assets. In particular, they immediately began liquidating the vast reserves of Shiba Inu at their disposal. This sudden and massive sale of Shiba Inu tokens had an almost instantaneous impact on the market, causing a sharp decline in the price of Shiba Inu as traders reacted to the influx of supply.
Since the initial breach, the hackers have continued their systematic efforts to launder and liquidate the stolen cryptocurrencies, with Ethereum being a major focus. The latest laundering move was the transfer of 5,000 ETH to Tornado Cash, the controversial privacy protocol occasionally employed by hackers to clean stolen ETH. Spot On Chain also noted another $5,000 to a new address, probably for further laundering.
In the past eight days, the hackers have laundered 12,600 ETH worth $30.13 million. At the time of writing, the hackers are still in control of 43,805 ETH, with a value of approximately $102.17 million. In addition to the large Ethereum stash, they hold various other tokens, bringing the cumulative value of their stolen crypto assets to $107.58 million.
🚨 The WazirX attacker won’t stop laundering stolen $ETH!
In the past 24 hours, the attacker moved 10K $ETH ($23.3M), including:
• sent another 5K $ETH to #TornadoCash
• moved another 5K $ETH to a new address for further laundering.
💸 Total laundered: 12.6K $ETH ($30.13M) in… https://t.co/hqIoMLq8s9 pic.twitter.com/HONUuhnqCB
— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) September 10, 2024
The sheer volume of tokens at their disposal poses a threat to the broader cryptocurrency market, particularly Ethereum. With the market already experiencing volatility and ETH struggling to stay above crucial support levels, any further sell-offs by the hackers could create more selling pressure and lead to more instability in its price.
After an initial back-and-forth of blaming crypto custody firm Liminal, WazirX has begun implementing a comprehensive restructuring plan to address the financial fallout from the hack. However, this process could take a while, as the stolen funds account for around 45% of the exchange’s $500 million holdings, according to a June report.
At the time of writing, Ethereum is trading at $2,330 and is down by 2.78% in the past seven days. However, the crypto has increased by 7.22% from a bottom of $2,173 on September 6.
Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com
