Orbit Chain hacker moves $48M into Tornado Cash after months of ‘silence’

The exploiter behind the $82 million Orbit chain hack on New Year's Eve has moved $47.7 million into cryptocurrency privacy mixer Tornado Cash after five months of “silence.”

A total of 12,932 ether (ETH) – worth $47.7 million – was moved in seven transactions on June 8, to a new address, sending the money to crypto mixer Tornado Cash, according to blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence.

The exploit is widely reported to have cost $82 million, but Arkham's latest filings suggest it was closer to $100 million.

“They stole over $100M in ETH and DAI from Orbit Chain 5 months ago, and have been silent ever since,” Arkham – one of the first companies to see the transfer – said in a June 8 X post.

Etherscan data shows that $47.7 million in Ether sent through Tornado Cash was mostly in 100 ETH batches.

The hacker did not move the stolen $20 million of Dai (DAI) or any other off-chain cross-bridge coins.

Their balance is now $71.2 million, including $51.1 million in Ether and a small amount of bundle-Bitcoin (wBTC), bundle-Ether (weTH), Orbit Chain (ORC) and US Dollar Coin (USDC).

The abduction took place in It's December 31, 2023 at 8:52 PM UTC in the final hours of 2023.

Orbit China confirmed the exploit the next day and said it was “actively engaging” with international law enforcement agencies.

“Those who provide critical information to identify the attacker or recover stolen assets will receive a reward,” Orbit Chain X's account posted on January 11, 2008.

“As a top prize, we're offering $8 million.”

Related: $20M Exploit Sonne Finance Disabled, Hacker in No Sense of Negotiation

Orbit Chain implements an inter-blockchain communication protocol to transfer data and value throughout the Cosmos ecosystem.

About $37 million in total value is locked into the chain, Defillama said.

However, that figure is down more than 75% from the $149.25 price locked in on the protocol prior to the December 31st hack.

By August 2022, the peak has reached $313 million.

Hackers stole $542.7 million in the first quarter of 2024, a 42 percent increase from the same period in 2023.

Interestingly, smart contract hacks in 2016 They fell 92 percent to $179 million in 2023, down from a staggering $2.6 billion in 2022.

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