A year after the FTX exchange was hacked and more than $600 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) was lost, there has been new activity on some of the stolen funds.
Blockchain data analytics platform Spot On Chain reported that on Saturday, September 30, approximately 2,500 ETH, worth more than $4 million, was transferred from wallets associated with the FTX hack.
FTX hacker’s secret moves
The funds were not simply transferred by hackers to another wallet. Instead, they use a variety of privacy tools to hide their actions and potentially gain access to their decentralized financial services (DeFi).
The 2,500 ETH was split into two parts and then traded multiple times. Approximately 700 ETH were transferred through the Thorchain router, which acts as a bridge, allowing users to exchange tokens between different blockchains while maintaining wallet anonymity. Another 1,200 ETH went through the Railgun privacy wallet, a platform that allows token storage and facilitates DeFi activities such as lending and borrowing.
The transactions are not public, making it difficult to determine exactly how the funds were used. Meanwhile, the remaining 550 ETH remains in the intermediate wallet. It is worth noting that a substantial amount of 12,500 ETH remains in the original wallet, which is worth approximately $21 million at current prices.
How did the FTX hack happen?
The FTX hack occurred on November 11, 2022, shortly after it filed for bankruptcy and founder Sam Bankman-Fried resigned. In this incident, an unknown attacker successfully obtained over $600 million in ETH.
Ryne Miller, then general counsel of FTX, said precautions had been taken to ensure the safety of funds in other FTX wallets. Following the leak, approximately 21,500 ETH (worth $27 million at the time) was converted into the stablecoin DAI a few days later.
Specifically, approximately 288,000 ETH remain in addresses associated with the attacker. The attack is one of the worst cryptocurrency thefts ever and has raised concerns about the security and regulation of cryptocurrency exchanges and DeFi platforms.
The hackers’ recent financial movements indicate that their activities are continuing and that they are looking for ways to cash out or use potentially stolen assets.
Information source: compiled from KOINBOX by 0x Information.Copyright belongs to the author Banu Fırıncılar and may not be reproduced without permission.