According to a number of on-chain analysts, the hacker who stole 120,000 ETH tokens from the Wormhole cross-chain bridge, which was worth more than $321 million, has begun moving funds
The hacker transferred $155 million in Ether tokens to 1Inch, a decentralized exchange (DEX), on January 23.
Since then, the unidentified exploiter has begun trading their ETH tokens for other cryptocurrencies. @lookonchain claims that the hacker exchanged 86,473 wstETH, a wrapped version of the stETH token used by the Ethereum liquid staking protocol Lido, for 95,630 ETH, which is worth $155 million.
The hacker then borrowed $14.5 million worth of DAI, a stablecoin pegged to the dollar, with this wstETH. They then used these tokens to purchase an additional 8,913 stETH. After that, this was used to borrow extra DAI worth $1.5.
On-chain tracker @spreekaway said that the exploiter continued to act strangely, funding a new address with 0.1 ETH.
Given similar behavior, Spreek hypothesized that the exploiter and the BNB bridge hacker might be related.
The Wormhole bridge team left their exploiter a message once more, this time with a $10 million reward for the complete return of the stolen funds. They also gave them an email address where they could contact them anonymously.
Exploits Still a Big Problem in Crypto
Even though the Wormhole bridge hack was enormous, it was only the third largest in 2022. Exploits are still a big problem in crypto. The most significant was a $612 million hack of the Ronin bridge, which was designed to transfer funds from the Ethereum blockchain to the Ronin sidechain for Axie Infinity. It is possible that the Lazarus crypto hacking group from North Korea was involved.
A $477 million exploit of an FTX wallet in the immediate aftermath of the exchange’s collapse was the second-largest hack. Over $2 billion worth of cryptocurrency was stolen in 2022, or 0.25 percent of the cryptocurrency market capitalization at year’s end.
As a result, exploits continue to be a major problem in cryptocurrency. Not only could funds be drained from decentralized protocols if hackers discovered flaws in the code or gained access to sensitive information, but individuals could also be targeted by a plethora of phishing scams and fake websites.
Fund safety has been identified as a major obstacle to the adoption of cryptocurrency. Many people will continue to be discouraged from investing in or using cryptocurrency if the risk of losing funds to robbers remains as high as it is.
Cryptocurrency users, on the other hand, can take precautions to lessen their chances of losing money. Investors should set up two-factor authentication whenever possible when crypto is stored on a platform like a centralized exchange. Google’s Authenticator app can make this authentication even stronger.
Investors should also think about withdrawing funds to a hardware wallet, backing up their seed phrase appropriately, and using passwords that are varied and strong. Cryptocurrency users should exercise extreme caution when interacting with Decentralized Finance (DeFi) protocols to ensure that they are not on a phony website or dApp with the real intention of stealing their funds or information.
