An attacker linked to the Poloniex breach, despite reportedly being identified, managed to launder more than half of the stolen funds using Tornado Cash. The individual, responsible for the late 2023 attack on Poloniex and purportedly identified thereafter, successfully laundered over $66 million of the $100 million stolen from the exchange through the sanctioned mixing protocol known as Tornado Cash.
As per PeckShield, a blockchain intelligence firm, the latest transaction involved sending over 4,400 ETH (valued at approximately $12.8 million) to Tornado Cash, which raised the total laundered funds to 22,200 ETH (equivalent to around $66.3 million).
In mid-November 2023, following the attack on Poloniex, the project’s team contacted the perpetrator, asserting, “We have already confirmed your identity.” They also proposed a $10 million bounty for the funds’ return, cautioning that they would involve law enforcement “from multiple countries” if the hacker did not cooperate.
Despite Poloniex’s warnings that the stolen funds would be frozen, the hacker successfully laundered over half of the stolen funds within just one week in early May. As of now, there have been no public indications that the exchange has made progress in freezing the funds.
As reported by crypto.news earlier, Poloniex’s listing data indicates signs of a partially abandoned platform, with over 500 trading pairs showing no trading volume. Data viewed by crypto.news shows that approximately 53% of all listed pairs on the exchange had negligible or zero daily trading activity as of May 13.
According to a Poloniex spokesperson speaking to crypto.news, “price fluctuations may contribute to this phenomenon,” with “assets experiencing frequent price changes, resulting in price discrepancies.” However, the exact reasons for the absence of trading activity across numerous pairs on the exchange remain unclear.
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