The hacker responsible for India’s largest cryptocurrency heist, which saw $234 million stolen from the WazirX exchange, has started laundering the stolen funds.
Notably, recent reports have linked the entity behind this hack to the infamous North Korean hacking group known as Lazarus, which was the author of the industry’s leading hacks. Highlighting this point, WazirX founder Nischal Shetty noted:
Some of the best researchers in the field say this pattern fits exactly with a North Korean connection.
Cryptocurrency Laundering Details
According to a report from BloombergThe hacker moved 2,500 ETH tokens, worth about $6.3 million, to Tornado Cash, a service known for obscuring the origins of cryptocurrency transactions.
Apart from being illegal, this action is also notable because it was taken shortly after WazirX founder Nischal Shetty informed the public about the ongoing efforts to recover the stolen assets.
However, despite their efforts, the recovery process appears to remain difficult, mainly due to the nature of blockchain technology, which allows for “easy dispersion” that can make laundering of digital assets a given.
Out of stock❤️🔥#WazirX Hackers begin moving stolen assets through #TornadoCashThe hacker made 26 transactions of 100 ETH each and moved 2600 #ETH So far, it’s worth $6.5 million.
If you don’t know what TornadoCash is, then in simple terms, it’s a service that mixes potentially contaminated information. #Crypto… pic.twitter.com/rb84rd2jSU
— Devendra Yadav (@YadavDevendra83) September 3, 2024
In particular, money laundering through Tornado Cash has made it increasingly difficult for authorities and blockchain intelligence firms to trace and recover stolen assets. Bloomberg’s report states:
Arkham Intelligence, a blockchain intelligence firm, has highlighted these flows, which underscore the difficulty of recovering digital assets. More than 4 million users have been affected by a hack that threatens to erode trust in India’s domestic crypto exchanges, which were already crippled by a transaction tax.
WazirX Attack Recap
On July 18, cryptocurrency exchange WazirX suffered an attack that resulted in a loss of over $200 million. As stated in the exchange’s press release job On X, the flaw targeted their multi-sig wallets, which allowed the hacker to successfully perform the exploit.
📢 Update: We are aware that one of our multisig wallets has suffered a security breach. Our team is actively investigating the incident. To ensure the safety of your assets, INR and cryptocurrency withdrawals will be temporarily suspended. Thank you for your patience and understanding.…
— WazirX: Bitcoin Exchange in India (@WazirXIndia) July 18, 2024
Following the hack, several blockchain platforms such as Elliptic and on-chain investigator ZachXBT, quickly analyzed the attack, which they ultimately attributed to North Korean hackers.
So far, the hack has cast a shadow over the Indian crypto community, especially among retail users. Many of them have been unable to access their funds, increasing concerns and trust issues within the market.
Featured image created with DALL-E, chart by TradingView
