Indodax, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in Indonesia, was recently hacked. Spot On Chain, a popular on-chain analytics provider, reported that the hacker drained $20 million worth of digital assets and then started swapping and transferring the stolen funds on various blockchains, sending shockwaves through the crypto community. The analytics platform revealed the incident on its social media account on X. However, the statistics differ on some monitoring platforms. According to Lookonchain, the exploit resulted in a loss of $22 million. The hacker drained Indodax to exchange the funds and later transferred them to various exchanges.
According to Spot On Chain, the exploiter has converted the assets in question into native cryptocurrencies on various blockchains. Currently, the hacker holds a significant amount of several tokens across different chains. In this regard, 5,584 tokens worth $ETH (equivalent to $13 million) are currently held on Optimism and Ethereum. Additionally, the Polygon network holds 6.84 million POL (also known as MATIC) tokens worth an approximate $2.56 million. Furthermore, the Tron blockchain also holds 16.7 million TRX tokens worth $2.55 million.
Indodax, one of the largest cryptocurrency exchanges in Indonesia, was recently hacked. Spot On Chain, a popular on-chain analytics provider, reported that the hacker drained $20 million worth of digital assets and then started swapping and transferring the stolen funds on various blockchains, sending shockwaves through the crypto community. The analytics platform revealed the incident on its social media account on X. However, the statistics differ on some monitoring platforms. According to Lookonchain, the exploit resulted in a loss of $22 million. The hacker drained Indodax to exchange the funds and later transferred them to various exchanges.
According to Spot On Chain, the exploiter has converted the assets in question into native cryptocurrencies on various blockchains. Currently, the hacker holds a significant amount of several tokens across different chains. In this regard, 5,584 tokens worth $ETH (equivalent to $13 million) are currently held on Optimism and Ethereum. Additionally, the Polygon network holds 6.84 million POL (also known as MATIC) tokens worth an approximate $2.56 million. Furthermore, the Tron blockchain also holds 16.7 million TRX tokens worth $2.55 million.
Indodax's Lost Origins
Furthermore, the Bitcoin network has 25 BTC, which is equivalent to approximately $1.41 million. The hacker spread the assets in question between Bitcoin, Tron, Polygon, Optimism, and Ethereum. This points to the challenges of recovering and tracking funds in DeFi systems. The use of native crypto assets such as Tron ($TRX) and Ethereum ($ETH), in parallel with swaps in prominent assets such as MATIC and Bitcoin, points to a common tactic of the hackers.
They do this to obscure the trail and make it difficult for exchange authorities and law enforcement to track the funds. As the exploiter continues to hold and possibly move the depleted assets, concerns are growing about the ability to recover the funds. Similar hacks have occurred in recent years, demonstrating the increasing difficulty of tracking assets after they are swapped between various blockchains.
The incident highlights the need for increased vigilance and state-of-the-art security measures.
This is especially true in the case of bridges or decentralized exchanges. Hence, timely intervention by network investigators, centralized exchanges, or law enforcement authorities is needed. This exploit serves as a reminder of the serious vulnerabilities that continue to pose risks to the crypto sector. It also underscores the need for increased vigilance on the part of crypto exchanges along with the adoption of advanced security measures.
