Tornado Cash Inflow: Orbit Chain Hacker Transfers $48M, Shocking Crypto Community
In a significant development in the cryptocurrency world, the hacker behind the Orbit Chain exploit has transferred a staggering US$48 million to the Tornado Cash platform. This move comes after a period of inactivity since the initial hack, which took place over New Year’s Eve. The Orbit Chain, a cross-chain bridge, was compromised for US$82 million, but recent reports suggest the losses could be closer to US$100 million.
The hacker executed a series of seven transactions on June 8, moving a total of 12,932 Ether (ETH) valued at US$47.7 million to a new address. This address then sent the funds to Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency privacy mixer, in an attempt to obfuscate the trail of the stolen assets. According to Etherscan data, the transactions mainly were in batches of 100 ETH.
Interestingly, the hacker has not moved the US$20 million in Dai (DAI) stolen or any other coins extracted from the cross-chain bridge. Their balance now stands at US$71.2 million, including US$51.1 million in Ether and smaller amounts of wrapped Bitcoin (BTC), wrapped Ethereum (wETH), Orbit Chain hacker (ORC), and USD Coin (USDC).
The exploit occurred in the final hours of 2023, around 8:52 pm UTC on December 31. Orbit Chain confirmed the exploit the following day and has been actively engaging with international law enforcement agencies to track down the attacker and recover the stolen assets. They have offered a bounty of up to US$8 million for information leading to the identification of the attacker or the recovery of the stolen assets.
Orbit Chain implements the Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol to transfer data and value throughout the Cosmos ecosystem. According to DeFiLlama, the total value locked on the chain is nearly US$37 million. However, this figure has seen a significant decrease of over 75% from the US$149.25 million in value locked on the protocol hours before the December 31 hack. At its peak in August 2022, the total value locked reached US$313 million.
The cryptocurrency industry has seen a rise in the amount stolen through hacks, with $542.7 million taken in the first quarter of 2024 alone. This represents a 42% increase from the same period in 2023. However, smart contract hacks have decreased by 92% to US$179 million in 2023, down from a staggering US$2.6 billion in 2022.
The recent movement of funds by the Orbit Chain hacker raises concerns about the effectiveness of current security measures in the crypto market. While blockchain technology is often lauded for its security, the increasing frequency and scale of these hacks highlight the need for improved protocols and vigilance.
As the situation unfolds, the cryptocurrency community will be closely monitoring the actions of the Orbit Chain hacker and the efforts of law enforcement to bring them to justice. The use of privacy mixers like Tornado Cash complicates the tracking of stolen funds, but the industry continues to develop tools and collaborate with authorities to combat such illicit activities.
