The WazirX hacker who stole $230 million in cryptocurrency is now in the final phases of the money laundering process. As of today, there is news that the hacker had transferred the last 3,792 $ETH ($9.93 million) to a new wallet with the address 0xa6e6. This wallet is now directly funneling Ethereum into TornadoCash, a notorious decentralized privacy solution used for obscuring crypto transactions.
On July 18, 2024, the hacker took advantage of loopholes within WazirX, which is a leading cryptocurrency exchange in India. They successfully stole $230 million worth of different types of cryptocurrencies, with ETH being the most common. All of these funds have since been exchanged for 61.7K ETH through token swaps and transfers.
Laundering Through Tornado Cash
TornadoCash is a decentralized cryptocurrency tumbler that enables users to transfer cryptocurrency with no possibility of tracking the origin or the destination of funds. TornadoCash, despite being put under sanction by the US Treasury and other regulators, continues to be used as a preferred laundering tool by hackers.
The hacker has been withdrawing the stolen funds through new addresses and removing the trails through TornadoCash. For the past three weeks, the hacker has been moving a large amount of ETH, which makes tracking and monitoring of the stolen funds a nightmare for blockchain researchers.
Breaking Down the Numbers
On the 14th of September, the hacker had 34,154 $ETH, approximately $83 million. This is nearly equivalent to 55 percent of the total stolen assets. One week before that, 20K $ETH ($46.97 million) were laundered through TornadoCash, and the total laundered $ETH amounted to 27.6K $ETH ($65.5) million on 14th September. Adding up all the laundered money, including today’s $9.93 million, the hacker is near the finish line.
What is still alarming is the sophistication of the hacker who undertook these transfers with a lot of planning. They have been able to distribute the transactions across multiple wallets and use TornadoCash to avoid detection and crackdown immediately. This recent transaction, where 3,792 $ETH was transferred, is expected to be the last push to finish laundering the remaining stolen assets.
What’s Next for WazirX?
The hack of WazirX has not gone unnoticed within the cryptocurrency world, particularly in India, where the exchange operates. WazirX has enhanced its internal security and is engaging with global enforcement agencies and blockchain analysis companies to recover stolen money.
This incident highlights a very big issue that most Cryptocurrency exchanges and other blockchain-based platforms struggle with concerning the security and protection of their users. It brings attention to the current weak spots in decentralized finance (DeFi) and the crypto exchange platforms.
