Hacker Uses Crypto Mixer To Obscure Transactions, Raising Concerns About Illicit Activities
Reportedly, a hacker recently sent funds to a crypto mixer from a lending protocol on Ethereum, Euler Finance.
A $1 million reward money was offered to anyone who would help reveal the identity of the hacker.
The hacker has made an attack of $196 million on Euler Finance, therefore, it is imperative that the hacker be caught.
$1 Million Reward Money
It was PeckShield, a blockchain analytics enterprise that tweeted about the hacker earlier today.
The company has tweeted that the hacker was on the move on the DeFi Protocol on Ethereum.
The tweet by PeckShield came after Euler Labs tweeted about the reward money for anyone who would come forward with the hacker’s identity.
The $1 million prize money was offered to anyone who would assist in having the attacker arrested and returning the stolen funds.
Just hours after the announcement of the reward, the hacker transferred funds into the crypto mixer known as Tornado Cash.
1000 Ether Moved To Crypto Mixer
The hacker has moved up to 1000 Ether using Tornado Cash, which translates to almost $1.65 million.
While Tornado Cash is a licensed entity, The US Department of Treasure has barred the use of the crypto mixer. Such a ban has been put in since the entity has been used to launder billions of dollars.
The US government has received a lot of criticism on this and people are revolting against it.
More about the Hack
A hacker used their computer abilities to obtain illegal and unofficial access to computer systems and networks of Euler Finance.
Hacking can be done for many reasons, including sending viruses, stealing information, or destructing a digital system.
The crypto mixer is basically an instrument, device, or tool that is used to mix and combine various crypto tokens to obscure their origin.
This makes tracing the funds to their unique source difficult, making it helpful to those who want to keep their transactions private.
The hacker hacked Euler’s system and then taking a risk transferred the funds to a crypto mixer.
While the reasons are not clear but possibly it was to conceal their path so that they could not be traced and caught.
The usage of a crypto mixer by the hacker will make it difficult for regulators to trace the money trail and recognize the hacker.
In essence, the crypto mixer improves the secrecy and anonymity of transactions related to crypto assets.
Euler’s Warning to the Hacker
Before, the hacker transferred the funds from Euler to the crypto mixer it apparently returned funds to one victim.
This triggered messages and transactions from other victims of a similar incident.
According to Peckshield, 100 Ethereum was returned to the wallets of one of the victims, which resulted in other victims also sending messages.
These messages varied from jobless persons to those who had invested their life savings on the platform.
Some even sent messages to the hacker telling them that they had saved funds for purchasing a house that they desperately needed.
Euler sent a warning to the hacker to return 90% of the stolen funds within twenty-four hours, failure of which would result in their arrest.
However subsequent transfer of the funds to Tornado Cash shows that the hacker is unperturbed by the warning and the bounty.
Does Crypto Mixer Guarantee Privacy
However, it must be noted that using a crypto mixer does not always guarantee that one’s money trail would be kept secret.
The regulating authorities have devised techniques and established mechanisms to trace the presumably hidden and private transactions.
There have been instances where the regulating authorities have succeeded in identifying persons and entities involved in such activities.
Closing Remarks
Such activities where individuals hide their identities to send and receive funds are not uncommon.
They hide their identity in order to avoid being caught and identified as punishments for such activities can be severe.
However, while this might make it difficult for authorities to identify the source it is yet not a foolproof method of preventing detection.
David Anderson is a writer and researcher for Copy Trading Critic. David provides comprehensive news articles from the online trading world. He also writes reviews and analysis of copy trading platforms and strategies.