The WazirX hacker has transferred $57 million worth of the stolen funds to two new cryptocurrency addresses in the latest onchain movement of the stolen funds.
The hacker has transferred 16,350 Ether (ETH) worth over $57 million to two new crypto wallets in the latest attempt to funnel the stolen assets.
The lion’s share, or over $54 million, was sent to address “0x58d” according to a July 22 X post by blockchain security firm PeckShield.
The unknown hacker stole over $230 million from WazirX, an Indian cryptocurrency exchange, in the second-largest cryptocurrency hack of 2024 so far. The onchain movement of the stolen funds could uncover key details about the hacker’s identity.
Related: WazirX hacker funnels $149M, Hamster Kombat users face phishing attacks: Finance Redefined
WazirX doubles bounty program
To help track the stolen funds, WazirX has launched two bounty programs for onchain investigators.
The first one, the track and freeze bounty, is offering up to $10,000 Tether USD (USDT) for those who can “provide actionable intelligence leading to the freezing of the stolen funds.”
The second one, the white hat recovery bounty, rewards ethical hackers with up to 10% of the amount they can help recover.
The white hat bounty’s upper limit was doubled to $23 million, according to a WazirX spokesperson, who told Cointelegraph:
“Bounty doubled to $23 million after community feedback.”
So far, 54 white hat hackers have registered for the WazirX recovery program, the spokesperson added.
Malicious actors often funnel the stolen funds into Ether, to prepare them for laundering, since the ETH token has no built-in means to be frozen.
This is likely why the WazirX hacker converted $149 million worth of altcoins into Ether last week.
Related: Can ETH price crack $3.5K? Ethereum ETF debut will precede new highs, analysts say
A tough week for crypto following WazirX hack and Rho Markets exploit
The $230 million high-profile hack took place during a particularly bad week for the cryptocurrency sector, which was plagued by malicious activities.
Shortly after the WazirX theft, Rho Markets was exploited for nearly $8 million worth of digital assets after a unauthorized individual gained access to the protocol’s blockchain oracle.
In a fortunate turn of events, the Scroll-based liquidity layer and lending protocol announced that all the funds were returned and Rho Markets was back online. The protocol also revealed that the loss came from an MEV (maximal extractable value) bot that profited from a price oracle misconfiguration and subsequently returned all the funds.
Lastly, players of the viral Telegram-based clicker game Hamster Kombat were also targeted by phishing attacks and fake airdrops trying to steal player credentials and cryptocurrency wallets.
Magazine: WazirX hackers prepped 8 days before attack, swindlers fake fiat for USDT: Asia Express