Thousands of Ether From Ronin Exploit Moved to Tornado Cash, Data Show

The exploiter behind Ronin’s unprecedented $625 million bridge attack from last week apparently moved some 1,400 ether (ETH) to privacy tool Tornado Cash on Monday morning during Asia hours, and then the remaining 600 ETH during European hours, on-chain data connected to the exploit’s addresses show.

The main Ethereum address associated with the exploit sent more than 2,001 ETH in two transactions to a different address – labeled “Ronin Bridge Exploiter 8” on the tracking tool Etherscan – in early Asian hours, the data shows.
Some 1,400 ETH were then sent to Tornado Cash over 14 transactions, the data shows. The moved ether was valued at over $4.9 million at writing time. The remaining 600 ether, valued at $2 million, was moved to Tornado Cash in European hours, the data show.
The main wallet that holds stolen funds still has in excess of 173,000 ETH, valued at over $607 million, at writing time.
Tornado enhances the privacy of transactions by breaking the on-chain link between a source and a destination address. This allows exploiters and hackers to mask their addresses while withdrawing illicitly gained funds.
Several thousands of ether had previously been moved to other wallets, data apparently shows. Those transactions ranged from 1 ETH to over 10 ETH.
Ronin Network was hit by a $625 million exploit last week that affected Ronin validator nodes for Sky Mavis, the publisher of the popular Axie Infinity game, and the Axie DAO.
The attacker “used hacked private keys in order to forge fake withdrawals” from the Ronin bridge across two transactions, as seen on Etherscan, Ronin said in a blog post on Substack.
Investigations are underway, with all former Sky Mavis validators said to have been replaced.

UPDATE (April 4, 13:16 UTC): Updates story to reflect additional movement of ether out of Ronin Bridge Exploiter 8 address during European hours.

Disclosure

Please note that our privacy policy, terms of use, cookies, and do not sell my personal information has been updated.

CoinDesk is an award-winning media outlet that covers the cryptocurrency industry. Its journalists abide by a strict set of editorial policies. In November 2023, CoinDesk was acquired by the Bullish group, owner of Bullish, a regulated, digital assets exchange. The Bullish group is majority-owned by Block.one; both companies have interests in a variety of blockchain and digital asset businesses and significant holdings of digital assets, including bitcoin. CoinDesk operates as an independent subsidiary with an editorial committee to protect journalistic independence. CoinDesk employees, including journalists, may receive options in the Bullish group as part of their compensation.