2 months ago
Bybit CEO Ben Zhou has explained however hackers are turning to Bitcoin mixers to launder the $1.5 cardinal successful Ethereum stolen from the speech past month.
In an update shared connected X connected March 20, Zhou disclosed that 193 BTC, astir $16 million, from the stolen funds, were funneled done Wasabi Wallet earlier being distributed crossed assorted P2P vendors.
In summation to Wasabi, Zhou disclosed that the hackers are utilizing different mixers, specified arsenic CryptoMixer, Railgun, and Tornado Cash.
He added:
“We judge this inclination volition turn arsenic much funds volition spell done mixers. Decoding mixer transactions is the no.1 situation we look now. If you tin help, delight scope out.”
Crypto mixers let users to blend their crypto transactions with others, making tracing funds connected nationalist blockchains difficult. While privacy-conscious users often usage these services, cybercriminals person besides leveraged them to conceal illicit activity.
As a result, regulators person sanctioned platforms similar Tornado Cash for their relation successful laundering stolen assets.
Stolen funds are inactive partially traceable
Despite the ongoing laundering attempts, most of the stolen assets remain traceable.
Zhou confirmed that 88.87% of the stolen 500,000 ETH—worth astir $1.5 billion—can inactive beryllium tracked, 7.59% has been rendered untraceable, and 3.54% has been frozen.
He further elaborate that 440,091 ETH, valued astatine astir $1.23 billion, has been converted into 12,836 BTC and distributed crossed 9,117 wallets.
Bybit has been actively investigating the breach, receiving 5,012 bounty reports implicit the past month. However, lone 63 provided actionable intelligence. Zhou has urged much bounty hunters to assistance way assets laundered done crypto mixers.
While Bybit has remained operational pursuing the attack, the incident’s aftermath continues to measurement connected the exchange.
On-chain information shows that Bybit’s marketplace stock dropped from astir 20% connected Feb. 21 to astir 5% by March 2. However, the speech has since rebounded, climbing to 10% arsenic of March 19, according to Kaiko data.
The station Bybit CEO describes however hackers launder stolen Ethereum via Bitcoin mixers appeared archetypal connected CryptoSlate.
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