Drift Hacker Pushes Over $100 Million in Ether Through Tornado Cash

Funds stolen in one of this year's largest crypto hacks are on the move again.

What happened

Wallets linked to the April 1 exploit of Drift Protocol, a Solana-based trading platform, deposited a large amount of ether into the mixing service Tornado Cash on Oct. 20 and 21, blockchain trackers report. Estimates differ. Arkham Intelligence put the total at about $122.3 million across 520 deposits, according to CoinDesk, calling it the largest round of hacker-linked Tornado Cash deposits in two years. Onchain Lens counted about 44,510 ETH, or roughly $109 million, according to crypto.news, while Lookonchain tracked about 25,700 ETH on the first day alone.

Tornado Cash pools deposits and pays them out to new addresses, which makes stolen funds much harder to trace. A deposit there does not mean the funds have been turned into cash.

Background

Drift lost about $295 million in the attack, according to crypto.news. Drift has attributed the hack to a North Korean group following an investigation by security firm Mandiant, and it opened recovery claims for affected users on Oct. 1. Arkham data cited by crypto.news showed the exploiter's tracked wallets still held about 56,569 ETH after Wednesday's transfers.

Why it matters

Large movements of stolen funds can put pressure on prices if the coins are later sold, and they renew scrutiny of DeFi security and crypto privacy tools. For Drift users, the transfers lower the odds that the mixed funds will be recovered.