$150M In Stolen Crypto Moved By Wormhole Hacker To Unlock Multi-Million Dollar Ethereum Trade

A digital-asset wallet connected to one of the most significant cryptocurrency hacks of all time has reportedly just shifted more than $150 million of stolen funds, unlocking a multi-million dollar staked Ethereum ETH/USD trade.

What Happened: According to a report by Bloomberg, on Monday, the crypto community was abuzz with activity after blockchain data revealed that the funds stolen in a recent hack were converted into staked Ether and then wrapped staked Ether tokens (supported on the Lido decentralized finance platform). 

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It seems the hacker used the wrapped staked Ether as collateral to take a $13 million loan in DAI DAI/USD stablecoin, which was then used to purchase more staked Ether. To further compound the exploit, the hacker then repeated the trade. 

Staking involves locking up Ether coins in order to help secure the Ethereum network. Protocols such as Lido allow users to access staking rewards with more flexible and accessible liquid avatars of these locked-up tokens.

The Wormhole is a popular bridge connecting Solana SOL/USD with Ethereum. Last year, over $326 million was stolen in a wormhole hack. Crema Finance was the latest victim, with $8.8 million stolen. After negotiations, the hacker returned the stolen funds for a $1.68 million bounty offered by the company.

Price Action: ETH was trading at $1,638 up 0.45%. SOL was trading at $24.92, up 1.40%  in the last 24 hours, according to Benzinga Pro.

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