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Hacker returns $19.3M stolen from US government wallets
By Daniele Corno
After less than 24 hours, hacker returns 88% of stolen funds to one of the addresses linked to the US government wallet
US government wallet hit and funds recovered
On Thursday evening, a hacker took about $20 million from an address related to U.S. governmentwallets.
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: 𝗨𝗦 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 $𝟮𝟬𝗠.
$20M in USDC, USDT, aUSDC and ETH has been suspiciously moved from a USG-linked address 0xc9E6E51C7dA9FF1198fdC5b3369EfeDA9b19C34c to… pic.twitter.com/UXn1atE1Wx
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) October 24, 2024
The attack began with a withdrawal of funds from Aave, the largest decentralized lending platform, where the funds had been inactive for more than eight months.
The compromised address, “0xc9E6E51C7dA9FF1198fdC5b3369EfeDA9b19C34c,” is also associated with government seizures of cryptocurrencies, including funds from theBitfinex hack.
The stolen tokens included mainly stablecoin, nearly 14 million AUSDC, 5.4 million USDC, 1.1 million USDT and $500k ETH. Immediately after the theft, the hacker distributed the funds quickly to various addresses, a typical move to make tracking more difficult.
Zack xbt noted on X that the attacker was using suspicious addresses to further complicate recovery. Indeed, this modus operandi suggests an attempt at money laundering, as is often the case in similar situations.
TLDR it’s a likely theft as funds tied to the USG started going to instant exchanges like N exchnage, Switchain, and Binance nested service.
0x3486ee700ccaf3e2f9c5ec9730a2e916a4740a9f
0xbf6f7c503e858aded4e18ce2bcf93846fd726c15
0x15d0a31ed5050ed8decd3c101aaee0b2ad2e6441 pic.twitter.com/WEdIVKI40u— ZachXBT (@zachxbt) October 24, 2024
The implications of the attack and the return of the funds
Friday night was the turning point. Arkham declared that 88 percent of the stolen funds, amounting to $19.3 million, had been returned to the government wallet.
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: $𝟭𝟵𝗠 𝗨𝗦 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱
The US Government’s address has just received $19.3M back following yesterday’s reported hack, less than 24 hours after the initial address breach.
88% of the compromised USD value has now been… https://t.co/F8q6iikBrT pic.twitter.com/Vo7I7ZH9K1
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) October 25, 2024
This update came less than 24 hours after the attack. The hacker, who had immediately moved the funds to various wallets, returned 88 percent of the stolen funds. Indeed, this choice raises many questions about his intentions. Perhaps the hacker decided to avoid legal consequences or made a mistake. The affair reopens the debate on the security of government wallets.
Cryptocurrency funds are vulnerable and valuable targets for cyber criminals. This incident highlights the need for greater protections and controls over public digital assets.
