HECO Chain Exploit Hides $145M Ether In 8 Days On Tornado Cash
A crypto wallet address linked to the HECO Chain exploit transferred about 40,392 Ether (ETH) in eight days on the crypto-mixing protocol Tornado Cash and was anonymous.
According to crypto investigator Peck Shield, a HECO chain user made almost 19 foreign transfers to Tornado Cash addresses in search of stolen ether worth $145.7 million.
Most of the funds were sent to one Tornado Cash address, and one transaction of 0.2 ETH $699 was sent to a different Tornado Cash address.
In the largest transaction, HECO chain mining sent 11,300 ETH worth about $39.5 million per transfer. Crypto hackers often start routing their loot through Tornado Cash to anonymize the ownership of the funds.
On March 21, an account linked to the $24 million Rocket Pool hack from September 2023 transferred 3,700 ETH to Tornado Cash.
According to crypto analytics firm Elliptic, hackers from North Korea's Lazarus group have continued to launder funds from the March 13 hack using Tornado Cash.
The Tornado Cash Protocol was indicted by the United States Treasury Department in August 2022 for its role in allowing the laundering of more than $1 billion in illicit funds for legitimate crimes, including funds linked to the Lazarus group.
RELATED: Blockchain Association Supports Lifting Tornado Cash Sanctions
Tornado Cash co-founder Roman Storm pleaded not guilty in September 2023 before a judge in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York.
He, along with his alleged accomplice Roman Semenov, was charged with money laundering, conspiracy to commit sanctions violations, and conspiracy to conduct an unauthorized money transfer business.
On March 10, Arbitrum DAO withdrew a proposal to fund the legal defense costs of Tornado Cash's co-founders. According to an Arbitrum spokesperson, the proposal was later withdrawn at the request of the author:
“I confirm that the forum was removed at the request of the author of the comment.”
The reasons for this change are unclear. Cointelegraph contacted DK – the anonymous delegate – for further clarification but did not receive a response.
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