SHIB Thief Nears Endgame: $230 Million Stolen Funds Almost Gone
As the WazirX hackers near the end of their laundering process, a major chapter in the July 2024 cryptocurrency heist is nearly complete, with the final transfer of 3,792 ETH, worth approximately $9.93 million, sent to a new wallet named “0xa6e,” which is now routing the funds through notorious crypto mixer Tornado Cash.
The attack, which saw $230 million worth of assets stolen from India’s leading exchange, resulted in most of the stolen funds being converted into 61,700 ETH, and since Sept. 3, the hacker has been moving the assets between new wallets, a process that is now nearly complete after 22 days of mixed transfers.
One of the most significant consequences of the WazirX hack came in the form of a $102 million liquidation of 5.4 trillion Shiba Inu (SHIB), which triggered a large intraday drop in the value of the popular meme-inspired cryptocurrency.
For better or worse, all SHIB tokens were immediately sold by the hacker that day.
Despite the size of the breach, Indian users have expressed frustration with WazirX’s lack of transparency, with the exchange failing to provide wallet addresses or transparency reports in the two months since the attack, adding to the uncertainty surrounding the event.
While Binance was initially rumored to be connected to WazirX, the black-and-yellow crypto giant has since confirmed that it had no connection to the Indian exchange in terms of ownership.