Orbit Chain Hacker Moves $47.7M to Crypto Mixer After Five Months of Silence
Summary:
The hacker behind the $82 million Orbit Chain hack moved $47.7 million to the crypto mixer, Tornado Cash, after five months of inactivity, according to Arkham Intelligence. The data shows that the hacker has not yet moved the $20 million seized in Dai or other coins. Despite a widely reported estimate of $82 million in losses from the hack, Arkham suggests losses near the $100 million mark. Orbit Chain confirmed engagement with international law enforcement following the incident and offered a bounty of up to $8 million for valuable information leading to the hacker or the recovery of assets.
The perpetrator of the substantial Orbit Chain breach that happened on New Year's Eve, which pilfered $82 million, has now shifted $47.7 million into the crypto privacy blender Tornado Cash, this comes following a five month period of inactivity. Blockchain sleuthing outfit, Arkham Intelligence, identified that on June 8, seven separate transactions transported 12,932 Ether (ETH), equivalent to $47.7 million, to a fresh account which then funneled the funds into Tornado Cash. Contrary to the widely circulated figure of an $82 million loss from the breach, recent insights from Arkham suggests this figure is nearer the $100 million mark.
Arkham, one of the first entities to detect these transactions, disclosed that the hackers plundered in excess of $100M in ETH and DAI from Orbit Chain and have been dormant since that episode five months prior. The data from Etherscan reports that the bulk of the $47.7 million in Ether that was channeled through Tornado Cash was dealt in 100 ETH packages.
Interestingly, the cyber criminal has not yet actioned the $20 million in Dai (DAI) seized or any other coins harvested from the cross-chain conduit. The current balance of the hacker now rests at a substantial $71.2 million, which is a composition of $51.1 million in Ether and smaller volumes of wrapped-Bitcoin (wBTC), wrapped-Ether (wETH), Orbit Chain (ORC) and USD Coin (USDC).
The hacking incident unfolded in the dying hours of 2023, precisely timestamped at 8:52 pm UTC on Dec. 31, 2023. The following day, Orbit Chain confirmed the exploit and communicated that international law enforcement agencies were being collaborated with to resolve the issue.
Orbit Chain put out a statement on January 11, incentivising individuals with critical information that assists in tracing the hacker or retrieving the stolen assets, with a handsome bounty, as high as $8M USD.
Orbit Chain adopts the Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol for the transfer of data and value throughout the Cosmos environment. Data from DefiLlama shows that the chain currently has nearly $37 million in total value locked. However, this amount has plummeted over 75% from the $149.25 million locked in the protocol just hours before the hack on December 31st. In August 2022, the peak value locked in the Orbit Bridge was $313 million.
Hacking incidents pilfered $542.7 million in cryptocurrencies in the first quarter of 2024, representing a 42% increase from the equivalent quarter in 2023. On a brighter note, smart contract hacks slid 92% to $179 million in 2023, a significant decrease from the eye-watering $2.6 billion tally in 2022.
Published At
6/10/2024 6:18:59 AM
Disclaimer: Algoine does not endorse any content or product on this page. Readers should conduct their own research before taking any actions related to the asset, company, or any information in this article and assume full responsibility for their decisions. This article should not be considered as investment advice. Our news is prepared with AI support.
Do you suspect this content may be misleading, incomplete, or inappropriate in any way, requiring modification or removal?
We appreciate your report.