Cryptoupdated 31m ago2 min read
Drift Exploiter Moves $61.56 Million in Ether to Tornado Cash, Still Holds $194 Million
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Drift exploit wallets moved 25,700 ETH (~$61.56M) to Tornado Cash on Oct 20. Deposits followed about two months of inactivity; remaining holdings total ~81,000–82,000 ETH (~$195–198M).
Ether to Tornado Cash
Wallets linked to the April 1 Drift exploit moved 25,700 Ether, worth about $61.56 million, into Tornado Cash over roughly two hours on Tuesday after about two months of inactivity. The deposits occurred on October 20, and the same movement was described as sending $61 million in Ether through Tornado Cash as victims awaited recovery. Arkham data showed the exploiter still held 81,454 ETH after the deposits, and about $194 million in ETH remained in wallets linked to the exploiter.
The transfers to Tornado Cash make the funds harder to trace and represent nearly 37% of the $295 million stolen from decentralized exchange (DEX) Drift in April. Cryptopolitan said the April $295.7 million hack was linked to state-backed actors from North Korea and that the deposits continued a money-laundering process traced to a North Korea state-sponsored organization.
Competing snapshots of totals
Lookonchain said the October 20 movement involved 25,700 ether worth around $61.56 million flowing into Tornado Cash within two hours, while Onchain Lens reported 13,400 ether, equivalent to roughly $32 million, from an address observers labeled "Drift Exploiter 5". Salus independently counted 19,600 ether, around $46.81 million, spread across 196 individual transactions, and CryptoTicker said the figures diverged because each service watched different address groups and time windows. Arkham Intelligence data showed the exploiter still held about 81,864 Ether, worth approximately $195 million, after the deposits, and about $194 million in ETH remained in wallets linked to the exploiter.
CryptoTicker said the repeat use of Tornado Cash after a prior July transfer suggested hiding the transaction trail remained a priority for whoever controlled the wallets. Cointelegraph said the Drift exploiter-labelled wallets still held 56,569 Ether, worth roughly $138 million after Wednesday’s flurry of transfers, and Cryptopolitan said about $194 million in ETH remained in wallets linked to the exploiter.
Recovery pool and risks
Drift opened claims and redemptions for DFX recovery tokens on Oct. 1, and Cointelegraph said the fund stood at $3.1 million at that time and was intended to grow based on exchange profits and recoveries.
The DFX tokens give affected users a claim on a recovery pool that held about $3.1 million at launch and receives exchange revenue and recovered funds, and the recovery pool held roughly $3.1 million at launch.
Drift said about $9.2 million in stolen assets were frozen, but returning that money requires legal and law-enforcement steps, so it could not yet be counted as available compensation.
Cryptopolitan said the renewed Tornado Cash deposits mattered for the thousands of Drift users who have not yet received their payment, and it said the wallet had been inactive for about two months before the sudden influx.
Cointelegraph said the Drift exploit ranked as this year’s third-largest crypto hack, and it said the attack’s losses were attributed by its security consultant Mandiant to a North Korean threat group.