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Hackers involved in $41 million Stake theft transfer BNB and MATIC in recent action: CertiK
The individuals responsible for the $41 million breach of cryptocurrency casino Stake have transferred an additional $328,000 worth of Polygon (MATIC) and Binance Coin (BNB) tokens — marking their latest actions following the exploit on September 4, as reported by blockchain security firm CertiK.
The latest transaction included 300 BNB tokens valued at approximately $61,500, sent to an externally owned address “0x695…” which were subsequently bridged to the Avalanche blockchain on September 11 at 4:09 pm UTC.
Additionally, 520,000 MATIC tokens, worth over $266,000, were also transferred to Avalanche seven hours earlier at 7:18 am UTC.
#CertiKSkynetAlert
We are observing further fund movements from the Stake exploiter.
520k MATIC was exchanged and bridged to Avalanche before being transferred to BTC, consistent with other fund movements from the exploiter.
See more on Skynet https://t.co/Sdsfh29AoF— CertiK Alert (@CertiKAlert) September 11, 2023
The combined total of 520,000 MATIC and 300 BNB — amounting to $328,000 — adds to the $4.5 million in stolen assets that were bridged to the Bitcoin blockchain (in the form of BTC) on September 7, according to blockchain security firm Arkham.
However, the total of $4.8 million transferred represents only 1.2% of the overall $41 million taken by the hackers.
In the last 24 hours, the hacker has been systematically bridging funds to the BTC Blockchain using a series of new wallets on Polygon and Avalanche.
To date, they have bridged $4.5M to BTC addresses, with the remaining $36M still retained on ETH/BNB/Polygon. pic.twitter.com/fiMy62ABwL— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) September 7, 2023
It has been determined that the hacker accessed the private key of Stake’s Binance Smart Chain and Ethereum hot wallets to execute the hack on September 4.
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The Federal Bureau of Investigation of the United States suspects that North Korea’s Lazarus Group was involved in the exploit.
Estimated losses from hacks and scams exceed $1 billion
With the $41 million taken from Stake, the total losses from cryptocurrency hacks and scams in the industry have surpassed $1 billion in 2023.
CertiK had previously reported this figure as $997 million at the end of August, but several attacks in the past two weeks have pushed the total over the $1 billion threshold.
Related: CertiK releases findings on alleged scammer who stole $1M in crypto
In September, a cryptocurrency whale lost $24 million in staked Ether (ETH) due to a phishing attack on September 6, and Vitalik Buterin’s X (formerly Twitter) account was compromised on September 9, where the hacker subsequently deceived several victims into a non-fungible token scam totaling $691,000.
These three incidents would raise CertiK’s August figure to at least $1.04 billion.
Crypto Hacks And Scams Approach Nearly a Billion Dollars In 2023!
⚔️ThreatSlayer is your security companion that keeps you protected! pic.twitter.com/pZmPCdZzP2— Interlock (@interlockweb3) September 11, 2023
Other recent events include the withdrawal incident involving Pepe (PEPE) coin, which cost investors $13.2 million, Exactly Protocol’s $7.3 million exploit, and a security vulnerability on Balancer that resulted in $2.1 million in damages.
Magazine: $3.4B of Bitcoin in a popcorn tin — The Silk Road hacker’s narrative
