Hackers, Fraudsters And Criminals Use RenBridge To Wash Off Proceeds

Hackers use RenBridge to launder the proceeds of crime. (photo: doc. pixabay)

JAKARTA - Hackers, fraudsters and other criminals have laundered at least US$540 million through cryptocurrency bridge network, RenBridge, since 2020. Blockchain analytics group Elliptic has revealed.

RenBridge is offered as a way to easily convert virtual currencies like ZCash and Bitcoin to the Ethereum network and then to other blockchains. But “in addition to being a legitimate tool, this cross-chain bridge has also emerged as a key facilitator of money laundering,” allowing users to circumvent regulations and move money easily across the network. This includes the results of ransomware operations and theft from other chains.

Cryptocurrencies are not as traceable as some users might expect, but it is still possible to mask the source of funds with certain services, especially decentralized ones like Elliptic. Regulators have started to pay attention.

Earlier this week, the US Treasury approved Tornado Cash, a decentralized mixer designed to obfuscate crypto resources. It made a similar move with the Blender.io mixer back in May. In both cases, the US government noted the alleged use of services by North Korean hacker groups.

The Elliptic report also shows that RenBridge was used to launder money stolen from Japan's Liquid crypto network, and hacks related to North Korea. It also claims RenBridge is popular among ransomware operations linked to Russia, and says $153 million in ransomware was laundered through the service.

Many other digital services can be used for both criminal and non-criminal purposes, such as privacy and censorship evasion. But decentralized finance or DeFi is rife with theft and hacking, and identifying chokepoints is potentially useful for security analysts and governments.