THORChain Faces Backlash as Bybit Hacker Moves 50% of Stolen Funds

Bybit hacker is moving fast, implicit 54% of the stolen funds are already laundered, with $605M worthy of ETH washed done cross-chain swaps.  

The $1.5B Bybit hack connected Feb. 21, the biggest crypto heist ever, has been traced backmost to North Korea’s Lazarus Group, according to blockchain sleuths similar Arkham Intelligence. While analysts contention to way the funds, the hacker is slipping them done THORChain, a protocol present nether occurrence for enabling anonymous transactions.  

THORChain’s swap measurement soared past $1B aft the hack, but backlash deed hard erstwhile a ballot to artifact Lazarus-linked transactions got overturned. This led to halfway developer “Pluto” quitting, saying helium wouldn’t lend anymore. Validator TCB besides threatened to permission if THORChain didn’t halt the travel of illicit funds.  

Meanwhile, the FBI is calling connected exchanges and validators to chopped disconnected Lazarus, confirming North Korea’s relation successful the attack. But THORChain laminitis John-Paul Thorbjornsen says the protocol isn’t to blame, arguing nary sanctioned wallet has interacted with it and that blocking funds successful real-time is unrealistic.  

The hacker inactive holds $514M ETH, and with nary contiguous mode to halt them, the crypto satellite is watching closely. Some experts accidental this hack shows a bigger issue, atrocious actors tin misuse decentralized platforms without regulators being capable to halt them, portion others think, it volition propulsion governments to ace down connected crypto, starring to stricter rules for privacy-focused platforms.

Also Read: What Bybit Did Right After $1.5 Billion Hack and What WazirX Could Learn?