Bibit CEO Ben Zhou has confirmed that $1.07 billion (77% of assets stolen in the recent $1.4 billion security breach) can still be tracked.
In an update on March 4th, Zhou revealed that hackers have successfully washed about 20% of the 499,000 ETH stolen, $280 million.
Meanwhile, investigators were able to freeze $42 million, accounting for 3% of the compromised funds.
Zhou said 11 independent bounty hunters were rewarded with $2.1 million for helping to freeze the stolen assets. Among the top contributors were Mantle, Paraswap and Blockchain investigator ZachxBT.
The role of Torcaine
Zhou revealed that attackers converted much of the stolen ETH into Bitcoin (BTC) via Thorchain, a decentralized platform designed for cross-chain asset swaps.
He said the hackers poured about 83% of the stolen assets (equivalent to 417,348 ETH worth about $1 billion) into BTC. These funds were then spread out in 6,954 wallets, with an average balance of 1.71 BTC per wallet.
The activity has significantly increased Thorchain's trading volume in the last two weeks, bringing it to more than $5.8 billion after a buybit violation. Blockchain analyst Embercn also reported that the platform has earned a fee of around $5.5 million from these transactions.
Blockchain security researcher Taylor Monaghan criticized Torcaine, claiming that its structure would make criminal activity possible under the guise of decentralization. She argued that the system operates in an isolated ecosystem that benefits insiders and encourages money laundering.
Monaghan said:
“[THORChain] It exists primarily in its own small bubble, which are difficult offenders and insiders who have found ways to benefit directly or indirectly from the above detectives. ”
However, Zhou said that funds passing through the platform can still be tracked. He said it is important that the funds freeze over in the coming weeks before hackers attempt to cash out through centralized exchanges, over-store (OTC) desks and peer-to-peer (P2P) networks.
Exchange and OKX involvement
Meanwhile, Zhou also reported that stolen assets have been moved through other platforms such as exchanges and OKX Web3 proxy.
Zhou has revealed that 40,233 ETH (approximately $100 million) has come into motion through OKX's Web3 proxy. Of this amount, 16,680 ETH remains trackable, while 23,553 ETH ($65 million) requires additional information from OKX to track.
Meanwhile, 79,655 ETH (16% stolen) concentrated through exchanges, an exchange that refused to promote illegal trading of buy-bit hackers.
In a statement on February 23, Ext confirmed that it rebutted claims that it had washed funds for North Korea-related entities.
“[An] The insignificant portion of the funds from Bibit Hack finally entered our address 0xF1DA173228FCF015F43F3EA15ABBBB51F0D8F1123.
