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In a strategic move following the $235 million exploit of cryptocurrency exchange<\/a> WazirX, the hacker has converted approximately $150 million worth of various altcoins to Ethereum (ETH)<\/a>. This conversion, occurring between July 18-19, is likely an attempt to prevent the stolen funds from being frozen or blacklisted.<\/p>\n Blockchain analytics firm Spot On Chain reported<\/a> that the conversion included $90.2 million in Shiba Inu (SHIB), $10.2 million in Polygon (MATIC), and $7.5 million in Pepe (PEPE). This maneuver has increased the total amount of stolen funds held in ETH from $52 million to $201 million.<\/p>\n \ud83d\udd34 The total $ETH<\/a> holding of #WazirX<\/a> exploiter has risen to 59,097 $ETH<\/a> ($201M)!<\/p>\n Among these tokens: \u2014 Spot On Chain (@spotonchain) July 19, 2024<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Spot On Chain suggested<\/a> several reasons for this shift to ETH. Its high liquidity and inability to be easily blacklisted make it an attractive option for hackers.<\/p>\n Unlike some ERC-20 tokens, ETH lacks a contract function for blacklisting addresses, providing an additional tool for recovering stolen funds. Furthermore, ETH can be more easily laundered through exchanges and mixer protocols, and its value is generally more stable compared to altcoins.<\/p>\n The hack has impacted the crypto market<\/a>, with SHIB experiencing a 7% decline since the incident. Meanwhile, ETH\u2019s price has remained relatively stable, dropping only 0.1%.<\/p>\n WazirX, the India-based<\/a> exchange targeted in this attack, has halted withdrawals and is working to recover the stolen funds. The breach resulted in the loss of nearly half of the exchange\u2019s cryptocurrency reserves.<\/p>\n Blockchain forensics firm Elliptic suggests that patterns in the attack indicate the possible involvement of North Korean hackers<\/a>. The hacker still holds approximately $12 million in various altcoins, including Chromia (CHR), Celer Network (CELR), Frontier (FRONT), and Ooki (OOKI).<\/p>\n\n
\u27a1\ufe0f 15,298 $ETH<\/a> ($52M) was stolen directly from the exchange;
\u27a1\ufe0f 43,799 $ETH<\/a> ($149M) was acquired by dumping various assets, notably 5.43T $SHIB<\/a> ($90.2M), 20.5M $MATIC<\/a> ($10.2M),\u2026 https:\/\/t.co\/v1sGzL6m7r<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/x23kGBsqyd<\/a><\/p>\nNearly half of all funds lost<\/h2>\n