The wallet behind the $82 million cross-chain bridge exploit committed on Orbit Chain on the last day of 2023 has finally become active after lying still for over five months. The hacker sent $48 million in ETH to TornadoCash on June 8 to obfuscate their fund flows and utilize the value without intelligence firms and authorities tracking them. The funds were transferred to the mixer over eight transactions totaling 12,932 ETH.
While original reporting stated they stole about $82 million, Arkham Intelligence, a blockchain intelligence and analysis firm, said, “They stole over $100M in ETH and DAI from Orbit Chain 5 months ago, and have been silent since.” Out of the $82 million (or $100 million), they still hold $51.1 million in Ether and $20 million in DAI, amounting to over $71 million. The hacker transacted none of the DAI or the other assets present in tiny quantities in their wallet.
The hacker successfully walked away with the massive amounts from Orbit Chain on New Year’s Eve by attacking a very often targeted blockchain component – the cross-chain bridge. Numerous bridge-related hacks have occurred in the past few years, with the Wormhole bridge exploit being the most well-known due to the hacker(s) walking away with about $321 million.
Orbit Chain is built in the Cosmos ecosystem, using its famous Interblockchain Communication Protocol (IBC) to bridge assets across networks and assist the interoperable and scalable future. However, vulnerabilities in the bridge’s contract were responsible for the theft. In the wake of their $82 million (or $100 million) hack, Orbit Chain offered a bounty of $8 million to anyone providing ample intelligence about the hack’s perpetrator.
The Orbit Chain team updated its community on its Telegram channel, stating, “…through continuous and concerted efforts in tracking, Orbit Chain Team has identified transactions indicating movements of assets from Tornado Cash to multiple exchanges.” The team is also working with authorities to hold the hacker accountable, as intelligence may arise from this movement of assets.
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