A large sum of 1000 ETH (about $3 million) was found going into Tornado Cash from a wallet with the address 0x454249291af33ad5681eD07DfD5165c1cB1aA625. This money is said to come from Bo Shen Hacker, a bad actor known since 2022 for illegal acts. This news was shared in a tweet by CertiKInsight, a web3 security firm calling for more care due to a rise in iffy money moves.
Reports say a hacker has been busy trading stolen goods like 38 million DAI, for ETH and then putting them into Tornado Cash, a site well-known for keeping transactions private.
Big jump in deposits at Tornado Cash in March 2024
Looking closer, there was a big jump in money going into Tornado Cash on March 18, 2024. About 23.4 million dollars, i.e. 6800 ETH, was put in. This much activity wasn’t seen since 2022 before Tornado Cash was hit with sanctions by OFAC.
On March 18, a lot of money got dropped in because a group of hackers found a way through the Heco Bridge cross chain in 2023. They started washing dirty money big time in March. On that day alone, out of all the money put in Tornado Cash, 5400 ETH of the total 6800 ETH came from Heco bridge hackers. They cleaned about $145 million in just 8 days.
Were Sanctions Against Tornado Cash Ineffective??
The authorities tried to stop Tornado Cash from being used illegally with rules set in August 2022. But it seems those steps didn’t do much as even with the rules, a lot of money kept moving through the platform.
Tornado Cash, as a decentralized application, is immune to censorship and can freely operate on the darknet. The platform still manages to allow for a huge number of assets to be withdrawn or washed even though the regulators have put some restrictions on it.
The constant struggles with the rules and laws that affect the crypto world are a real thing. The recent increase in deposits related to the Bo Shen Hacker shows how difficult it is for the regulatory authorities to fight against criminal activities in the cryptocurrency world.
As the developments proceed, the stakeholders stay on their toes and the regulatory efforts are still finding ways to keep up with the ever-changing nature of cryptocurrency technologies.
