On May 8, major crypto exchange Binance was the victim of its second major hacking. On this occasion, the thief/thieves made off with 7,000 Bitcoin, which valued at approximately $40 million USD at the time. (That same amount of BTC is worth almost double that at current rates.) Now, several months on, it has been discovered that at least 4,836 Bitcoin of that stolen loot was laundered through crypto mixing service Chipmixer.
Stolen BTC Laundered through Chipmixer
After Binance was hacked, the stolen coins were moved to seven addresses. Then, according to research published by Luxembourg-based crypto capital flow firm, Clain, a month later—on June 12—the culprits began laundering the loot.
Clain described how it made the discovery. According to its publication, because it is “practically impossible to launder big volume of coins in a relatively short period of time,” it could detect the hacker’s addresses. An investigation into those addresses led them to “recognize subsequent alteration to ownership of stolen funds by using a neural network.”
Chipmixer Sees Historical Highs
At the same time as the thieves laundered the money, Chipmixer reported a historical high of fund inflows. It wasn’t simply a coincidence. As such, the assumption now is that any outflow coming from Chipmixer in recent weeks has likely come from the same loot.
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Chipmixer is a crypto mixing service that is also known as a crypto tumbler. It is an anonymity tool that transforms transactions of non-private coins into private ones. It does this by mixing crypto funds with others, making it difficult to trace the funds’ original source.
Crypto tumblers are often frowned upon in the crypto sphere, precisely because of their role in several money-laundering operations unbeknownst to the service. Recently, in mid-May, Europol shut down Bestmixer.io after Dutch and Luxembourg authorities found that a large number of mixed coins came from criminal activity and money laundering.
Featured Image: DepositPhotos © yulchikg
