• The hacker of Wormhole, one of the largest cross-chain bridges between Solana and other blockchains, has moved stolen funds of $155 million worth of ETH for the first time in months to a decentralized exchange.
• Blockchain data revealed that 95,630 ETH was sent to the OpenOcean DEX before being converted into ETH-pegged assets such as Lido Finance’s staked ETH (stETH) and wrapped staked (wstETH).
• The exploiter then used the wrapped staked Ether (wstETH) as collateral to take a $13 million loan in the stablecoin DAI, in a bid to buy nearly 7,989.5 ETH via KyberNetwor.
This week saw an explosive increase in on-chain activity coming from the address associated with the $320 million exploit of Wormhole, one of the largest cross-chain bridges between Solana and other blockchains. It has been revealed that the hacker behind the attack has moved a total of $155 million worth of ETH for the first time in months.
According to blockchain data from the analytic platform CertiK, the hacker sent a total of 95,630 ETH to the OpenOcean DEX, where it was then converted into ETH-pegged assets such as Lido Finance’s staked ETH (stETH) and wrapped staked (wstETH). The wstETH was then used as collateral to take a $13 million loan in the stablecoin DAI, in a bid to buy nearly 7,989.5 ETH via KyberNetwor. This process was repeated multiple times.
Following this, the hacker sent the newly acquired ETH to the decentralized exchange Uniswap. It is worth noting that the hacker has not attempted to cash out any of the stolen funds yet, and it is unclear what their ultimate goal is.
The latest development in the Wormhole exploit saga is a reminder of the importance of security and robustness in the blockchain space. It also highlights the need for more advanced solutions to bridge different blockchains and ensure the safety of users‘ funds.