Thorchain, a cross-chain swap protocol, has experienced a surge in activity following the $1.4 billion misuse of cryptocurrency exchange buybit.
On February 26, the protocol processed a $859.61 million swap, marking the highest daily volume ever, according to data from Thorchain Explorer. This momentum continued on February 27, adding $210 million (and counts), pushing total swap volumes beyond $1 billion within 48 hours.
Thorchain Swap volumes have experienced a dramatic surge since the Bibit Hack. Source: Thorchain Explorer
Thorchain allows for direct asset swaps across a variety of blockchains, such as exchanging Bitcoin (BTC) and Ether (ETH).
Exchange of stolen funds for Bitcoin was a common tactic by the North Korean state-sponsored hacking group Lazarus. Blockchain analysts report that Lazarus often converts illegally acquired digital assets into BTC, often converting them to obscure their trails.
Related: Thorchain Approves Plans to Restructure $200 Million Debt
Chain of criticism from Torcaine
The surge occurs amid Torcaine’s ongoing controversy. In January, it suspended Bitcoin and etheric loans after accumulating around $200 million in debt, triggering a debt restructuring plan. The swap remains active while the loan is frozen.
Source: Taylor Monaghan
Thorchain Core Dev Nine Realms Engineer “Pluto” came to the defense, defending responsible measures to deal with illegal activities. Pluto acknowledged that illegal funds were flowing through Thorchain, but added that the team has taken steps to help wallets and integrated partners implement screening services.
Source: Pluto
According to Coingecko data, Thorchain (Rune) Cryptocurrency has risen 36.6% over the past week.
Bybit hacks good and bad actors
Bybit has launched a website to track the washing of stolen funds and offers bounties to exchanges and entities that help them freeze them. On February 27th, the site listed seven good actors and one bad actor, the exchange.
Bybit nominated the exchange as the only bad actor. Source: LazarusBounty/Bybit
The Customer (KYC) swap service exchange has attracted criticism for refusing to freeze funds related to the Buybit Hack. The exchange has rejected North Korea’s laundry funds.
Related: Sony to Bybit: How the Lazaro Group became Crypto’s Supervillain
The record-breaking BYBIT exploit on February 21 was attributed to the North Korean state-sponsored hacking group Lazarus by ZACHXBT, and was later confirmed by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Third-party forensic investigations found that the Lazarus group stole ether from Bibit by impairing Safe Wallet’s credentials. Reports from Sygnia and Verichains revealed that the qualifications of a secure developer had been breached, allowing the attacker to deceive the signatories and approve the malicious transaction.
According to Sygnia, the attack comes from malicious JavaScript injected into Safewallet’s AWS infrastructure. In response, Safewallet Developers rebuild and reconfigure the infrastructure, implementing new security measures, and rotating all credentials to prevent future attacks.
Magazine: All defi of Thorchain’s founder and his plans
