Bybit’s CEO recently disclosed that crypto mixers are being used by the hackers who stole 500,000 ETH (approx $1.4b) from the recent Bybit hack. The summary of the findings, say that hackers have been using wasabi, CryptoMixer, Railgun, and TornadoCash to launder their illicit funds.
Nevertheless, investigators revealed that 88.87% of the stolen assets are still traceable and only 7.59% have become untraceable. Authorities have been able to freeze 3.54% of the stolen funds. Following those transactions through the mixers is complicated, and becoming more so, particularly because the laundering techniques are becoming more sophisticated.
Majority of Hacked ETH Converted to BTC
The report stated that 86.29% of the stolen Ethereum, approximately 440,091 ETH (around $1.23 billion), has already been changed into 12,836 BTC in 9,117 wallets. On average, each wallet carries 1.41 BTC making it impossible to trace the amount of money. Hackers have been noticed to be using Bitcoin mixers more and more, investigating also found that at least 193 BTC were sent to Wasabi Mixer and then distributed to different peer to peer (P2P) vendors.
This shows that hackers are changing their laundry methods to stay away from detection. Bitcoin mixers are one of the ways to make it harder for the authorities to catch a trail of the stolen assets.
Authorities Face Challenges in Tracing Mixer Transactions
Decoding money mixer transactions, these days, is the biggest challenge ahead for law enforcement agencies and cybersecurity firms to catch the stolen funds. Mixer based laundering is so complex that the number of bounty programs looking to enlist experts to review suspicious activity has increased. Since then, Bybit received 5,012 bounty reports in the last 30 days, but only 63 were valid.
So, now authorities are asking for skilled analysts and bounty hunters to help track illicit transactions. The increased risk of cybercrime means that better tracking technologies and coordination is urgently required.
The growing use of crypto mixers in huge hacking victims is already bringing extra attention to the contribution of such solutions to the crimes in the field of finance. With authorities trying to sever these laundering networks, the industry is looking to strengthen regulation and improve forensic capabilities to deal with cybercriminals who exploit blockchain tech.
