On Monday, Harmony hackers began laundering the Ethereum they stole from the Horizon Bridge. According to reports, they mix the stolen crypto with another crypto to mask the origin. Visit: bitcoins-code.de. The service, which supports mixing up to 100 ETH at a time, is reportedly used by North Korean-affiliated hackers to launder their funds. While the amount of stolen ETH is not yet known, it is believed to be worth around $78 million.
A recent report has revealed that hackers are laundering the Ethereum stolen from Harmony’s Horizon Bridge. The hacker has received more than $1 million from the Horizon Bridge and has sent $36 million of that amount to three other addresses. However, tracing stolen funds is very difficult. There are many factors involved in this case. The main one is the breach of the smart contract code. Hackers can use several methods, such as fraudulent trading software, to launder stolen funds.
The hacker has already received $1 million in cryptocurrency but will likely take much more. The Harmony team has contacted the hacker’s family and offered a bounty of $100 in crypto, but this wasn’t enough to entice them. In return, Harmony will not pursue criminal charges so far. Instead, the hackers have been transferring the stolen Ethereum to the Tornado Cash Ethereum mixer.
Supports mixing a maximum of 100 ETH at a time
The hack has left users of the Harmony Protocol with around $100 million worth of altcoins. The hackers have been caught in three separate transactions, transferring more than $30 million to Tornado Cash. They have also left more than $62 million in their Ethereum wallets. This attack has prompted the Harmony Protocol to offer a $1 million reward to anyone who can return the stolen Ethereum. However, the hacker has so far declined to take the reward. In the meantime, Harmony is working with forensic experts and national authorities to recover the stolen funds.
The hacker has already mixed the stolen crypto in two of the three wallets. The third wallet sends 100 ETH every eight minutes but still contains more than $78 million in ETH tokens. While the hackers have not replied to Cointelegraph’s request for comment, the Harmony team has confirmed that it is working with two of the most respected blockchain tracing partners and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.
North Korean-affiliated hackers use it to launder funds.
The Harmony hacker reportedly stole $12 million using the same protocol. The hacker then sent 100 ETH to Tornado Cash every six minutes to launder the funds. The hacker is said to have decrypted the fraudulent transaction keys and converted the assets to ETH. The hackers also preferred to use the Tornado Cash protocol as it is more difficult to trace wallet-to-wallet transfers. The Harmony team has offered a $1M bounty for information about the hacker. However, many crypto enthusiasts have criticized Harmony’s offer of a bounty.
The money has already been stolen from Horizon Bridge, a cross-chain platform that connects the Harmony blockchain and other networks. The hacker then used the stolen ETH to launder other funds. They successfully used the first two wallets to launder funds, and the third wallet still sends batches of 100 ETH to Tornado Cash every eight minutes. The hacker held approximately $78 million worth of ETH in the first wallet alone.
One of the most recent multimillion-dollar thefts targeting Defi protocols is the Harmony Protocol’s Horizon Bridge hack, which has been tied to North Korean hackers. The hacker has started laundering ETH from Horizon to another wallet, sending the stolen assets to three other addresses, each receiving around $7 million. The Harmony team has not yet responded to requests for comment but has stated that they are working with two very high-profile blockchain tracing partners and the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Final Words
The rise of cryptocurrency hacking and theft has resulted in new methods of laundering stolen funds. In this case, hackers have begun to launder stolen Ethereum (ETH) through a Horizon Bridge-related exchange. You can make your cryptocurrency trading safe through bitcoin trading software. As a result, users may want to be aware of this development and keep their security up to date.
