In the aftermath of the $41 million hack on cryptocurrency casino Stake, the hackers responsible have made further transfers, moving a total of $4.8 million in funds to Bitcoin and Avalanche. Blockchain security firm CertiK has detailed the latest movements of the hackers following the exploit that occurred on September 4.
The most recent transfer involved 300 Binance Coin (BNB) tokens, valued at approximately $61,500, to an externally owned address “0x695…”. Subsequently, these tokens were bridged to the Avalanche blockchain on September 11 at 4:09 pm UTC.
Additionally, 520,000 Polygon (MATIC) tokens, worth over $266,000, were also moved to Avalanche seven hours earlier at 7:18 am UTC. The combined value of the transferred 520,000 MATIC and 300 BNB tokens amounts to $328,000. These transfers follow the previous bridging of $4.5 million in stolen funds to the Bitcoin blockchain on September 7, as reported by blockchain security firm Arkham.
It is important to note that the $4.8 million transferred represents just 1.2% of the total $41 million stolen by the hackers. The breach occurred when the hacker gained access to the private keys of Stake’s Binance Smart Chain and Ethereum hot wallets on September 4. The United States Federal Bureau of Investigation suspects the involvement of North Korea’s Lazarus Group in the exploit.
The cumulative impact of cryptocurrency hacks and scams this year has now surpassed $1 billion. The previously reported figure by CertiK at the end of August stood at $997 million. However, with multiple attacks occurring in recent weeks, the total is expected to exceed $1 billion. In September alone, a whale in the cryptocurrency space lost $24 million in staked Ether (ETH) due to a phishing attack on September 6. Furthermore, on September 9, the compromised X (formerly Twitter) account of Vitalik Buterin, the co-founder of Ethereum, was used by hackers to lure victims into a nonfungible token scam, resulting in a total loss of $691,000.
Taking these incidents into account, CertiK’s estimate for August alone now exceeds $1.04 billion. Other notable recent incidents include the $13.2 million withdrawal incident affecting Pepecoin investors, the $7.3 million exploit targeting Exactly Protocol, and the $2.1 million damage caused by an exposed security vulnerability on Balancer.
As the cryptocurrency industry continues to grapple with the rising threats posed by hackers, scams, and vulnerabilities, the need for robust security measures and increased awareness regarding best practices becomes ever more crucial.
