Hackers Who Break Into Debits Are Detected To Disrupt Curian Funds Through Tornado Cash

Hackers move Deribit's stolen funds, use Tornado Cash, to move stolen funds. (photo: twitter @DeribitExchange)

JAKARTA - After Deribit's $28 million hack, an unknown hacker moved stolen funds using a decentralized cryptocurrency mixer, Tornado Cash.

Hot wallet hacker Deribit is known to have transferred a total of 1,610 Ether, or about USD 2.5 million (IDR 39 billion), to Tornado Cash, according to data from block Ethereum explorer Etherscan.

The funds were transferred in 17 transactions, with the first transaction appearing and occurring on November 5, or just days after Deribit was hacked.

The amount of funds transferred to the Tornado Cash was only a small part of all the ETH stolen at the hacker's address, as the balance amounted to 7,501 ETH ($11.8 million/Rp185 billion) at the time of writing. The hacker initially sent 9,080 ETH to the address on November 2.

Blockchain analytic platform PeckShild initially reported a Tornado Cash transaction that came out on November 5. At the time, the amount of funds that came out of the hacker's ETH wallet was only about US$ 350,000 (Rp 5.4 billion).

Deribit officially announced that its platform experienced a hot wallet hack on November 2, and lost a total of $28 million in multiple cryptocurrencies, including Bitcoin. The crypto exchange must stop all withdrawals to ensure proper security after the hack, and they also promise to cover all losses.

The crypto exchange platform then resumes regular withdrawals for BTC, ETH, and USDC on November 2, circumventing all hot wallets to the digital asset security platform Fireblocks. Deribit emphasizes that users should not send funds to their previous BTC, ETH, and USDC addresses and instead use a new Fireblocks deposit address.

The news comes amid ongoing uncertainty over Tornado Cash and other cryptocurrency mixers after authorities in the United States restricted mixers. The United States Department' Department of Finance's Foreign Assets Monitoring Office blacklisted Tornado Cash in August 2022, making it illegal for citizens, residents, and companies to receive or send money through the service.

In October, crypto advocacy group Coin Center filed a complaint against OFAC, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, and OFAC Director Andrea Gacki, alleging that Tornado Cash sanctions had never happened before and violated the law.