Nomad Bridge Hackers Buy The Ethereum Dip, Make $4M Using Stolen Funds Amid Global Financial Crisis
- The Nomad bridge hackers used stolen funds to take advantage ofEthereum's ($ETH) price dropand buy 16,892 $ETH.
- The hackers moved ~2,400 $ETH to the crypto mixer Tornado Cash to hide the transactions. Investigation firm Peckshield discovered the deposit.
- Both the crypto and global finance markets crashed yesterday, allowing hackers to use stolen funds to buy the dip.
In August 2022, hackers stole crypto assets worth ~$190M from Nomad, a crypto bridge that helps communicate between blockchains.
Monday's crypto and broader market crash saw $ETH lose ~22% of its total value (from a $2.712 high to a $2.220 low). Taking advantage of$ETH's price dip, the Nomad bridge hackers purchased 16,982 $ETHusing the funds they stole.
Let's unpack the hack and what such volatility means for the broader crypto market.
Nomad Exploiters Used 3.7M $DAI to Buy 16K+ $ETHAfter 500 days of inactivity, Nomad Bridge Exploiter 2 swapped 3.7 $DAI for $16,892 $ETH using CoW (a DEX aggregator). At the current $ETH trading price of $2.5K, the hackers made $4M, a 10% increase in their investment.
The hackers then transferred 2,500 $ETH to Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency privacy program currently under US sanction. Lookonchain and PeckShieldAlert picked up the transfer.
#PeckShieldAlert #NomadBridge Exploiter-labeled address has transferred 39.75M $DAI & 17.75 $ETH to an intermediary address 0x663a...f448
The $DAI was swapped for 16.89K $ETH, & 2.4K $ETH (worth ~ $7M) was transferred to #Tornadocash. pic.twitter.com/cPFOpE9tSF- PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) August 5, 2024
As the crypto mixer hides transaction history, analysts are uncertain whether the hackers have cashed the crypto in or are still holding onto it in the hope that $ETH's value will increase.
Global Financial Market Crash Sparks Crypto TurbulenceThe crypto market's turbulence reflects a much wider crash that is affecting stock markets globally.
Since the news broke, Bitcoin lost 16% of its value (from a $58.5K high to a $50K low), $ETH's 24-hour trading volume has dropped by ~26%, some meme tokens have dropped 30%, and the total crypto market volume has plummeted by ~11%.
These losses were mirrored in the wider financial markets. NVDA dropped by 7.25%, Google by 4.84%, and Amazon by 4.50%, possibly due to mass sell-offs and fears of a US recession. The NIKKEI experienced its worst drop in 37 years, while DAX and S&P 500 declined 7%.
The current situation is a stark reminder of the volatility of not just the crypto industry but also the broader financial market. However, it may not be all doom and gloom.
Analysts have mixed opinions about whether the market will recover. Some say we're in for another drop, while others cite similar previous crashes that recovered relatively quickly.
A possible ray of light through the clouds is that Ethereum ETFs recorded their second-largest daily inflows totaling $48.7M. The markets have seen worse crashes, such as when the price of $ETH halved between November 2021 and January 2022. We'll have to wait and see how the market recovers.
ReferencesClick to expand and view sources
- Ethereum Price Today (CoinMarketCap)
- Nomad Bridge Incident Analysis (CoinBase)
- Lazarus Group Hackers Appear to Return to Tornado Cash for Money Laundering (The Record)
- No Place to Hide: US Court Upholds Sanctions on Decentralised Crypto Platform (Royal United Services Institute)
- Total Crypto Market Volume (CoinMarketCap)
- Bitcoin Price Today (CoinMarketCap)
- Fears of America Recession Send Stock Markets Tumbling with Worst US Day in Nearly Two Years (Sky News)
- Nomad Bridge Hackers Buy the Ethereum Dip With Stolen Crypto (CCN)
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