$3.85M Stolen from Lendhub Protocol Transferred to Tornado Cash

Amid the outright ban on crypto mixing service Tornado Cash, Lendhub protocol exploiters have transferred stolen $3.85M into the crypto mixer in a bid to secure transaction anonymity according to an update by Blockchain security firm PeckShield.

#PeckShieldAlert ~2,415.4 $ETH (~3.85M) into Tornado Cash from @LendHubDefi exploiters
LendHub was exploited, and $6M worth of cryptos was stolen from its protocol on Jan. 12.https://t.co/vDxHlTgR0o pic.twitter.com/8FZY3v2Fe3

— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) February 27, 2023

Recall that the decentralized finance lending protocol Lendhub was attacked in January, leading to the loss of $6 million. 

Meanwhile, both PeckShield and Beosin alerted the crypto community on Feb. 27 that around 2,415 Ethereum (ETH) worth $3.85 million was transferred to Tornado Cash by the exploiters. 

In a more detailed report, Beosin revealed that the exploiter has moved a total of 3,515.4 ETH to Tornado Cash since the attack was orchestrated on Jan. 13. 

It is instructive to note that Tornado Cash is a crypto mixing service that provides anonymity for Ethereum transactions via a combination of huge amounts of ETH before depositing to several addresses. 

It should be noted that the service was sanctioned on Aug. 8 by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in order to prevent fraudulent transactions but it appears that the sanction has not prevented its usage. 

According to a January report by blockchain analytics firm Chainalysis, hacks and scams purposes accounted for 34% of all inflows to the crypto mixer, which rose to as high as $25 million per day at one point. 

Reign of Crypto Mixer Tornado Cash

While decentralized Lendhub protocol is the latest to feel the heat of crypto mixer Tornado Cash, it is noteworthy that several stolen funds have been carted away through the service. 

On Jan. 9, the wallet address linked to the hacked Nomad bridge transferred more than 200 Ethereum (ETH) to Tornado Cash as per a report by blockchain security firm CertiK.

In a related development, $1.4 million stolen by the North-Korean based hacker Lazarus Group from the Harmony’s Horizon Bridge was intercepted by Binance and Huobi exchanges after applying Tornado Cash.

More than any other time, authorities should strengthen measures in curbing the use of the crypto mixer for any purposes.