Orbit Hacker Funnels $32 Million into Tornado Cash

On June 8, the perpetrator behind the attack on the cross-chain bridge Orbit Bridge transferred 8671 ETH, valued at $32 million, into the mixer Tornado Cash. This was reported by analysts at Arkham Intelligence. 

?ONGOING: $100M Orbit Chain Exploiter sends $32M to Tornado Cash after 5 months silence

In the past hour, the Orbit Chain Exploiter moved 8671 ETH ($32M) to a new address and is currently in the process of depositing it to Tornado Cash.

They stole over $100M in ETH and DAI… pic.twitter.com/Bq7BRdXqmc

— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) June 8, 2024

The incident occurred on December 31, 2023, with the total damage from the breach exceeding $80 million. The South Korean company Ozys, which developed the cross-chain bridge, accused a former employee of aiding the attack. 

Meanwhile, Arkham recalculated the losses and concluded that the protocol’s losses exceeded $100 million. 

“They stole over $100 million in ETH and DAI from Orbit Chain five months ago and have remained silent since,” experts stated. 

The hacker’s wallet still holds $66 million in ETH and more than $20 million in stablecoins DAI and USDT. The exploiter also retains a small amount of wBTC, wETH, ORC, and USDC. 

Following the attack, the Orbit team offered a maximum reward of $8 million for the return of the funds or information about the hacker. However, this did not lead to the identification of the perpetrator. 

According to DeFi Llama, the total value locked in the network amounts to $37 million. Before the breach, this figure exceeded $150 million. 

In March, North Korean hackers used Tornado Cash to launder $147.5 million stolen from the HTX exchange in 2023.

In May, the individual responsible for the Poloniex cryptocurrency exchange hack transferred 100 ETH (approximately $308,000) into the mixer.