The hacker responsible for India’s largest crypto theft, which saw $234 million stolen from the WazirX exchange, has begun laundering the stolen funds.
Notably, recent reports have linked the entity behind this hack to the infamous North Korean hacking group known as Lazarus, which has been the perpetrator of major hacks in the industry. Emphasizing this, the founder of WazirX Nischal Shetty, noted:
Some of the best researchers in the industry are telling that the pattern exactly matches” with a North Korean connection.
Details Of The Crypto Laundering
According to a Bloomberg report, the hacker has moved 2,500 ETH tokens, worth approximately $6.3 million, to Tornado Cash, a service known for obfuscating the origins of cryptocurrency transactions.
Aside from being illegal, this action is also noteworthy because it was taken shortly after WazirX’s founder, Nischal Shetty, briefed the public on the ongoing efforts to recover the stolen assets.
However, despite their efforts, the recovery process appears to remain challenging mainly due to the nature of blockchain technology, which allows for the “easy dispersal” that can make the laundering of digital assets a no-brainer.
Breaking#WazirX hacker start to move stolen assets via #TornadoCash. Hacker has done 26 transactions of 100ETH each and moved 2600 #ETH till now thats worth $6.5M.
If you dont know whats TornadoCash then in simple words its a service that mixes potentially tainted #Crypto… pic.twitter.com/rb84rd2jSU
— Devendra Yadav (@YadavDevendra83) September 3, 2024
Particularly, the laundering of funds through Tornado Cash has made it increasingly difficult for authorities and blockchain intelligence firms to trace and recover the stolen assets. The Bloomberg report read:
Blockchain intelligence firm Arkham Intelligence highlighted the flows, which underline the difficulty of recovering the digital assets. Over 4 million users have been impacted by a hack that threatens to erode confidence in domestic Indian crypto exchanges, which were already stunted by a transaction tax.
Recapping The Attack On WazirX
Back in July, on the 18th, the WazirX crypto exchange platform suffered an attack that resulted in a loss of more than $200 million. As reported in the exchange’s post on X, the breach targeted their multi-sig wallets, which made the hacker successful in the exploit.
Update: We’re aware that one of our multisig wallets has experienced a security breach. Our team is actively investigating the incident. To ensure the safety of your assets, INR and crypto withdrawals will be temporarily paused. Thank you for your patience and understanding.…
— WazirX: India Ka Bitcoin Exchange (@WazirXIndia) July 18, 2024
Following the hack, several blockchain platforms such as Elliptic and on-chain sleuth ZachXBT, were quick to analyze the attack, which they eventually attributed to North Korean hackers.
So far, the hack has cast a dark shadow over India’s crypto community, particularly among retail users. Many have been unable to access their funds, heightening concerns and trust issues within the market.
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