The saga of the Poloniex hack continues as the attacker behind the November 2023 breach has recently moved a significant portion of the stolen funds through Tornado Cash, a coin mixer service known for its privacy features.
Despite efforts by Poloniex to identify the attacker and offer a substantial reward for their capture, the stolen funds remain at large. PeckShield, a blockchain investigation company, discovered that over half of the stolen funds have been transferred through Tornado Cash, indicating an attempt to obfuscate their origins.
In the latest development, the attacker moved approximately 17.8K ETH, equivalent to $53.5 million, from six different wallets to a single address associated with Tornado Cash. This follows a previous transfer of over 1,100 ETH in multiple batches to the same mixer.
The Poloniex hack, which saw around $126 million stolen from the exchange's hot wallets, raised concerns about the security of cryptocurrency exchanges and the risks associated with centralized platforms. While Poloniex managed to freeze a portion of the stolen assets, the remaining losses were deemed within "manageable limits."
TRON founder Justin Sun, who acquired Poloniex in 2019, has pledged to fully compensate affected users and ensure the exchange's financial stability. Additionally, Poloniex is exploring partnerships with other exchanges to facilitate the recovery of the lost funds.
Despite these efforts, the movements of the stolen funds through services like Tornado Cash underscore the challenges of tracking and recovering stolen cryptocurrency in a decentralized and pseudonymous environment. As the investigation continues, the crypto community remains vigilant against similar security breaches and illicit activities.