Orbit Chain Hacker Moves $48M to Tornado Cash

Orbit Chain hacker moves $48M to Tornado Cash after remaining silent since Orbit Chain was exploited for $82 million on New Year’s Eve.

After five months of silence, the perpetrator of the $82 million Orbit Chain breach on New Year’s Eve has transferred $47.7 million to Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency privacy mixer.

According to blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, 12,932 Ether (ETH) — valued at $47.7 million — was transferred across seven transactions on June 8 to a new address, transferring the funds to crypto mixer Tornado Cash.

Orbit Chain exploit

The exploit was widely reported to have resulted in $82 million in losses; however, Arkham’s most recent posts indicate that the figure was closer to $100 million.

In a June 8 X post, Arkham, one of the first firms to identify the transfer, stated that “they stole over $100M in ETH and DAI from Orbit Chain five months ago and have been silent since.”

Etherscan data indicates that most of the $47.7 million Ether sent through Tornado Cash was in bundles of 100 ETH.

The hacker did not move the $20 million in Dai (DAI) and other coins extracted from the cross-chain bridge.

Their current balance is $71.2 million, which includes $51.1 million in Ether and minor quantities of wrapped Bitcoin (wBTC), wrapped Ether (wETH), Orbit Chain (ORC), and USD Coin (USDC).

A cyberattack was executed in the final hours of 2023, precisely at approximately 8:52 pm UTC on December 31, 2023.

The exploit was confirmed by Orbit Chain the following day, and the company said it was “actively engaging” with international law enforcement agencies.

According to Orbit Chain’s X account, the bounty will be awarded to individuals who provide decisive intelligence to identify the perpetrator or recover stolen assets on January 11.

“We are providing a maximum reward of USD 8 million.”

Orbit Chain implements the Inter-Blockchain Communication Protocol to facilitate the transmission of data and value throughout the Cosmos ecosystem.

According to DefiLlama, the chain has a total value of roughly $37 million.

However, that amount is a significant decrease of more than 75% from the $149.25 in value secured on the protocol in the hours preceding the December 31 breach.

In August 2022, it attained its highest point of $313 million.

In the first quarter of 2024, hackers stole $542.7 million in cryptocurrencies, a 42% increase from the same period in 2023.

Intriguingly, the number of intelligent contract breaches decreased by 92% to $179 million in 2023, a sharp decline from the staggering $2.6 billion recorded in 2022.