The criminal entity that stole $1.4 billion worth of Ethereum ETH/USD from cryptocurrency exchange Bybit has laundered roughly 30% of the hacked funds.
What happened: The hacker has washed about 145,065 ETH, worth $360.92 million, in five days since the hack, according to data from Spot On Chain.
The hacker has been splitting the funds into smaller amounts across multiple addresses and using the liquidity protocol THORChain RUNE/USD for cross-chain swaps into Bitcoin BTC/USD and other assets.
With over 354,330 ETH still in their possession, the scammer holds more ETH than Vitalik Buterin, the blockchain's creator, and the Ethereum Foundation.
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Widely followed on-chain analyst EmberCN said that at the current rate, the funds will be laundered in another 8-10 days.
Laundering is the process of concealing the origins of illegal money through transfers involving legitimate mediums.
Why It Matters: The massive breach, allegedly carried out by North Korea’s notorious Lazarus Group, stunned the market, raising concerns about the safety of assets kept in exchange custody and a run on deposits.
While Bybit revealed that it "fully closed" the ETH gap, returning to a 1:1 backing of its client assets, the likelihood of a massive dump of the hacked funds shook the markets.
Price Action: At the time of writing, Ethereum was exchanging hands at $2,483.25 down 7.68% in the last 24 hours, according to data from Benzinga Pro. Since the hack, the second-largest cryptocurrency has fallen over 12%.
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