Key Points
- The infamous Poloniex hacker has transferred 1100 units of Ethereum to crypto mixer Tornado Cash.
- Despite attempts to engage the hacker, including a bounty reward offer, the attacker has shown no interest in engagement.
The notorious Poloniex hacker, suspected to be a cyber attacker sponsored by North Korea, has transferred 1100 units of Ethereum (ETH) to Tornado Cash, a crypto mixer.
This information is based on on-chain data provided by Arkham Intelligence, which shows that the hacker sent 11 batches of 100 ETH units, worth approximately $306K, to Tornado Cash in the past 24 hours.
Previous Hacker Activity
Earlier this month, the hacker moved around 501 Bitcoins, valued at about $31.9 million, to an unidentified address.
Justin Sun, the founder of the Tron network, had previously tried to expose the hacker by sending several batches of TRX, but this was unsuccessful.
The Poloniex crypto exchange even attempted to offer the hacker a 5 percent bounty reward, however, the attacker has not displayed any interest in engagement.
The hacker currently holds a variety of crypto assets including 25.5K ETH, 305M TRX, 501 BTC, 364 BTCT, 27 billion FLOKI, 2.3M TUSD, and 642 WETH, among others.
Tornado Cash and Crypto Attacks
The US government has taken enforcement action against the developers and co-founders of Tornado Cash.
The US Treasury Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned the crypto mixer, which led to the arrest of co-founder Roman Storm.
The Lazarus Group, known for its cyber attacks, has used Tornado Cash multiple times to obfuscate more than half a billion dollars.
This group is believed to have conducted a cyber attack on Axie Infinity’s Ronin network bridge in early 2022.
The cryptocurrency sector has been a prime target for hackers due to its poor security design.
Hackers have primarily targeted blockchain bridges by manipulating web3 smart contracts.
Some blockchain security experts have pointed to insider operations as the top threat to crypto attacks.
Hackers can apply for web3 engineering jobs and easily construct backdoors for later manipulation.
The use of crypto mixers is the biggest obstacle in confronting Web3 hackers.
Some crypto companies, led by Coinbase, have advocated for privacy in the financial sector.
Market Impact
The frequent attacks on web3 projects, particularly by North Korea-sponsored hackers, have hampered the mass adoption of digital assets.
With a significant amount of capital being siphoned from the crypto industry every quarter, Web3 developers are forced to build more secure smart contracts, specifically those involving multi-chain.
However, the recent approval of spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs is a significant development in eliminating crypto attacks.
Investors can now trade shares of the underlying crypto with high liquidity and lower security risks.
