Hackers Reportedly Shuffling Binance’s Stolen BTC
According to a team at Coinfirm, which is a blockchain services company, they have been observing the erratic movements of the world’s leading crypto Bitcoin. Particularly, they are referring to the ones associated with the recent $40 million stolen. Here is everything about the latest Binance breach in a nutshell.
The Hackers’ Process
On May 8, hackers were successful in moving at least 1214 BTC or $7.16 million to a number of new addresses. From there, they decided to transfer the stolen BTCs to two new addresses, both of which have reportedly been held by the hacker.
It is worth noting that this is not the first major exchange hack of 2019 – it is, in fact, the fourth. The recent breach of Binance follows the likes of Bithumb, Cryptopia, and DragonEx.
According to official reports, the breach took place at around 5:15 PM on May 7. During this time, hackers were able to drag more than 7,000 Bitcoin – an amount they took from a single Binance hot wallet. They then transferred these BTCs to a handful of smaller wallets, a process they did in a single transaction only.
After the hack and transfer, the individuals responsible for the hack decided to move small amounts straight into smaller wallets. Although BTC blockchain, by nature, makes it difficult to see just exactly where each Binance BTC, it is still quite complicated when it comes to performing real forensics on the affected wallets. The forensics, in particular, would be helpful in a sense that it can help understand who or what created them in the first place.
The Back and Forth Movement
As far as Amy Castor, a writer and blockchain analyst, is concerned, it appears that these hackers are trying to remove any evidence of their movements. She adds that this is due to their decision to go back and forth, which, according to her, is none other than “Money Laundering 101.” By breaking transactions into smaller accounts, authorities will find it hard to track them.
Binance is deemed to be among the largest crypto exchanges by trading volume. It is also hailed as one of the most trusted and well-respected in the industry. Unfortunately, it added another title to its name. It is now deemed to be one of the largest digital currency exchanges to experience a hack that hit the crypto space since the creation of Bitcoin.