Hacker commits the largest cryptocurrency theft of the year

Analysts at blockchain security company PeckShield have reported an exploit of a cryptocurrency wallet. According to official data, an unknown hacker hacked a cryptocurrency wallet from GMX GMX $28.79 GMX 0.38% Market capitalization $0.28 billion VOL. 24 hours $1.14 million and then sold digital tokens worth more than $ 3 million.

Experts managed to find the storage of the stolen virtual assets. All the cryptocurrency was converted into Ethereum ETH $3,350.64 Ethereum -2.51% Market capitalization $402.73 billion VOL. 24 hours $0.6 billion , and the balance amounted to 2820.39 ETH (approximately $ 3.52 million at the current exchange rate). This is the largest cryptocurrency hack since the beginning of 2023.

Earlier, experts from Chainalysis summarized the crypto hacks of 2022. Analysts estimate that hackers stole a total of $ 3 billion worth of digital assets, which is $ 1 billion more than in 2021. Among the largest crypto thefts, the researchers identified incidents related to inter-chain bridges and decentralized financial protocols.

The largest crypto hacks of the past year were recognized as

• hacker attack of the North Korean Lazarus Group on Ronin Network — $ 625 million was stolen
• hacking of the FTX crypto exchange — $ 400 million was stolen
• hacking of the Nomad Bridge token bridge — $ 190 million stolen
• mango Markets exploit — $ 115 million stolen
• bNB Token Hub hack — $ 120 million stolen.

PeckShield analysts emphasized that most of the stolen cryptocurrency went through cryptomixers. The most popular service was Tornado Cash. Pertsev’s creation has already been involved in a crypto hack in the new year: hackers who stole cryptocurrency from the BTC.com pool owned by BIT Mining Limited used the mixer to launder money. According to X-explore analysts, the attackers managed to earn 32.5 BTC and 1964 ETH, some of which ended up on Tornado Cash.