THORChain swap volume explodes past $1B after Bybit hack

THORChain, a crosschain swap protocol, is experiencing a surge in exercise following the $1.4 billion exploit of cryptocurrency trade Bybit.

On Feb. 26, the protocol processed $859.61 million in swaps, marking its highest-ever every day quantity, in keeping with knowledge from THORChain Explorer. The momentum continued on Feb. 27, including $210 million (and counting), pushing complete swap quantity previous $1 billion in beneath 48 hours.

THORChain permits direct asset swaps throughout totally different blockchains, reminiscent of exchanging Ether (ETH) for Bitcoin (BTC).

Swapping stolen funds for Bitcoin has been a typical tactic of the North Korean state-sponsored hacking group Lazarus. Blockchain analysts have beforehand reported that Lazarus usually converts illicitly obtained digital property into BTC to obscure their path.

Associated: THORChain approves plan to restructure $200M debt

THORChain’s chain of criticism

The surge comes amid ongoing controversy for THORChain. In January, it paused Bitcoin and Ether lending after accumulating about $200 million in liabilities, triggering a debt restructuring plan. Whereas lending was frozen, swaps have remained energetic.

THORChain core dev 9 Realms engineer “Pluto” got here to the protection whereas advocating for accountable measures to deal with illicit exercise. Pluto acknowledged that illicit funds have flowed by means of THORChain however added that the workforce has taken steps to assist pockets and integration companions implement screening companies.

THORChain’s (RUNE) cryptocurrency has climbed 36.6% previously week, CoinGecko knowledge exhibits.

Bybit hacks good actors and unhealthy actors

Bybit has launched an internet site to trace the laundering of its stolen funds whereas providing a bounty to exchanges and entities that help in freezing them. On Feb. 27, the positioning listed seven good actors and one unhealthy actor, eXch.

No-Know Your Buyer (KYC) swap service eXch has drawn criticism for refusing to freeze funds tied to the Bybit hack. EXch has denied laundering funds for North Korea.

Associated: From Sony to Bybit: How Lazarus Group grew to become crypto’s supervillain

The record-breaking Bybit exploit on Feb. 21 was attributed to North Korean state-sponsored hacking group Lazarus by ZachXBT, and later confirmed by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Third-party forensic investigations discovered that Lazarus Group stole Ether from Bybit by compromising SafeWallet credentials. Experiences from Sygnia and Verichains revealed {that a} Secure developer’s credentials have been breached, permitting attackers to deceive signers into approving a malicious transaction. 

In accordance with Sygnia, the assault stemmed from malicious JavaScript injected into SafeWallet’s AWS infrastructure. In response, SafeWallet builders rebuilt and reconfigured their infrastructure, applied new safety measures and rotated all credentials to stop future assaults.

Journal: THORChain founder and his plan to ‘vampire assault’ all of DeFi