A hacker has drained $2.5 million in Binance USD (BUSD) from the recent Uranium Finance exploit. According to blockchain security firm PeckShield Alert, the funds were bridged from BNB Chain to Ethereum using the cross-chain Li.fi protocol.
The initial transfer of $10,000 BUSD via the Stargate bridge acted as a test before the hacker moved another 3.1 million BUSD soon after. This amount was split over six transfers of 500,000 BUSD each and one of 100,000 BUSD within an hour.
The BNB Chain address associated with the original Uranium Finance hack is now empty of the $15 million in illegal funds it once held. Meanwhile, the Ethereum address linked to this laundering operation contains 824 Ether worth $1.3 million and smaller amounts of USDC and USDT stablecoins.
Shortly after the asset conversion, 1,200 ETH totalling $1.89 million was transfered to the Tornado Cash mixing service to cover the hacker’s tracks. The precise steps exhibit familiarity with using Tornado Cash for confusion purposes.
This high-value breach caps an outbreak of cybercrime attacking cryptocurrency protocols in 2024. Earlier this month, a phishing scam saw a victim lose $4.2 million. The continued success of such exploits spotlights persisting weaknesses in DeFi security.
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