Exploiter Behind the WazirX Breach Converts Nearly $149 Million of Altcoins to Ether
- The exploiter behind WazirX’s 1900 crore breach, has converted nearly $150 million of altcoins to Ether.
- Experts believe this move has been made to avoid getting funds frozen or blacklisted.
- Blockchain analytics for financial crime compliance firm, Elliptic, believes this hack was perpetrated by hackers affiliated with North Korea.
Indian crypto exchange, WazirX yesterday experienced a massive cyber attack. One of its multisig wallets suffered a breach and as a result, $234.9 million, which is over ₹1900 crore, of WazirX’s funds were stolen.
Indian crypto exchange WazirX has reported a significant hack, with over ₹1900 crore ($234.9 million) stolen from its multisig wallet. The exchange has suspended INR and crypto withdrawals to protect user funds as investigations unfold.
— Newzchain, a Blockchain Powered Media Platform (@NewzchainHQ) July 18, 2024
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Now, in the latest intel, it has been determined that the WazirX exploiter has converted nearly $150 million of altcoins to Ether. Experts believe the exploiter has done so to avoid getting funds frozen or blacklisted.
As per blockchain analytics firm Spot On Chain, the hacker converted $90.2 million worth of Shiba Inu, $10.2 million in Polygon, and nearly $7.5 million in Pepe (PEPE) to Ether from July 18 to 19.
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🔴 The total $ETH holding of #WazirX exploiter has risen to 59,097 $ETH ($201M)!
— Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) July 19, 2024
Among these tokens:
➡️ 15,298 $ETH ($52M) was stolen directly from the exchange;
➡️ 43,799 $ETH ($149M) was acquired by dumping various assets, notably 5.43T $SHIB ($90.2M), 20.5M $MATIC ($10.2M),… https://t.co/v1sGzL6m7r pic.twitter.com/x23kGBsqyd
Furthermore, reports suggest that the hacker likely transferred the ERC-20 tokens to Ether as it is far more liquid and cannot be blacklisted. Also, ether is easier to launder through cryptocurrency exchanges and mixer protocols and its price is much more stable.
Now, in this whole WazirX hack saga, an interesting angle has emerged. Elliptic, a firm that is focused on blockchain analytics for financial crime compliance, has stated in its blog that as per on-chain analysis and other information, the hack was perpetrated by hackers affiliated with North Korea.
Edited by Harshajit Sarmah
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