This isn’t a normal hack in the crypto sector – Axie Infinity’s Ronin hack is the largest in DeFi history. Following the initial efforts to break down the case, the latest updates show that the explorer apparently transferred 1,400 Ether to Tornado Cash.
14 Transactions
The hacker transferred approximately 1,400 ether to Tornado Cash earlier this morning, according to on-chain data linked to the exploit’s addresses.
Tornado Cash (TORN) is a decentralized protocol that provides privacy for Ethereum blockchain transactions.
The hacker involved in the crypto industry’s largest attack has begun moving part of the stolen loot using anonymous blockchain platforms.
There has been some activity on the blockchain address associated with the Ronin bridge hack.
In addition, multiple transactions from suspicious Ethereum addresses have been made in recent hours in some activities. The first is the transfer of 1,000 ETH (about $3.5 million) to a different address.
Analysis also indicates that the principal Ethereum address associated with the vulnerability sent over 2,001 ether in two transactions to a different address – named “Ronin Bridge Exploiter 8” on the tracking site Etherscan.
The exploiter completed 14 additional transactions, sending 1,400 Ether to Tornado Cash. At the time of publication, this sum was estimated to be more than $4.9 million.
A Wild Tool That May Fall From Grace
Normally, your entire Ethereum transaction history is public; if someone knows your public address, they may verify your receipts and payments, source of money, and analyze your activities.
However, with Tornado Cash, it is now possible to conduct anonymous Ethereum transactions.
Tornado Cash’s innovative, non-custodial technology, which is built on strong cryptography, has unexpectedly spoiled in the hands of exploiters.
As reported, over 600 Ether worth of $2 million still stays in the Exploiter 8 wallet at the press time. Exploiter had previously transferred thousands of Ether to multiple wallets. The amount of Ether varies from one Ether to over 10 Ether.
The attack against Ronin network last week shook the crypto community, negatively hit Ronin validator nodes for Sky Mavis, the team behind the famous Axie Infinity and the Axie DAO.
As Ronin stated in a blog post on Substack, the trick was “used hacked private keys in order to forge fake withdrawals” from the Ronin bridge across two transactions.
At the moment, the team replaced all former Sky Mavis validators. The case is still under investigation.
Concerns About Cross-chain Bridge
Last week, Ronin Network (RON), a blockchain network in the Axie Infinity ecosystem, was hacked into the bridge.
The hack resulted in the loss of 173,600 ETH and 25.5 million USDC, according to a post from Ronin’s official Twitter account.
Sky Mavis, the creator of the NFT Axie Infinity game, also created Ronin. The Ronin Network is designed as a side-chain or branch network that is linked to the Ethereum network.
This is thought to be a solution to Ethereum’s typical problems of high transaction costs and network congestion. This side-chain was created to make trading, purchasing, and selling items in Axie Infinity faster and smoother.
The bridge connecting blockchain networks has numerous security flaws and is frequently utilized by criminals to steal billions of dollars.
Big Losses
According to Bloomberg, the intrusion of approximately 625 million into Sky Mavis’ Ronin blockchain network brings the total value taken from the Cross-chain Bridge by hackers to more than a billion dollars in the last year.
While anonymous payment platforms like Tornado Cash help customers preserve their privacy, they are also becoming a weapon for hackers.
The hackers won’t get away with it, not with Binance and OKX already pledged their support to help tackle the situation.
Hacking a platform and stealing the funds is not the problem, but being able to use the funds is a big problem.
