In an alert, blockchain security firm CertiK reported that the Raydium protocol exploiter had sent 1,774.5 Ether (ETH) to the mixer. The amount is worth around $2.7 million at the time of writing.
As security teams from various exchanges continue to combat the efforts of hackers, funds continue to flow into licensed cryptocurrency mixer Tornado Cash.
We are seeing ~1,774.5 ETH (~$2.7M) being deposited into @TornadoCash from the Raydium exploiter 0xb98ac as stated at https://t.co/lb2v6r8c4s.
Keep alert! pic.twitter.com/JVqWAw9MVO
— CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) January 19, 2023
The attack on the Solana-based decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol occurred on December 16. According to the developers, the hackers took control of the exchange owner’s account and depleted the liquidity provider’s funds consisting of various digital assets such as USD Coin (USDC), Wrapped Solana (wSOL), and Raydium.
Following initial investigation, the DeFi protocol determined that the exploit was due to a vulnerability in the decentralized exchange’s smart contracts. This allowed managers to withdraw liquidity funds as fees.
Due to the losses, the Raydium team also proposed a plan to compensate the victims of the hacks, which involves using the treasury of the decentralized autonomous organization to purchase lost tokens and reimburse those affected by the exploit.
In a report published Jan. 9, blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis noted that while the Tornado Cash sanctions had some effect on the mixer, no organization can easily “go offline” compared to centralized services. While your website can be deleted, your smart contracts can run indefinitely, highlighting that anyone can continue to use it at any time.
Related: Balancer warns some LPs to remove liquidity ASAP due to ‘related issue’
While hackers continue to actively move funds, they don’t always end up winning. Recently, centralized crypto exchanges Binance and Huobi were able to detect and freeze funds deposited by Harmony One hackers. Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao reported that his security team collaborated with Huobi to recover 121 Bitcoin (BTC ) from the hackers, who were worth $2.5 million at the time.