Using Li.fi, the attacker from Uranium Finance moved 2.5 million BUSD from the BNB chain to Ethereum (ETH).
Using the DEX aggregator Li.fi protocol, 2.5 million BUSD were transferred from the BNB Chain to Ethereum on January 22, according to the on-chain analytics platform PeckShield Alert. Assets were converted into 812 ETH and around $500,000 in stablecoins for this transaction.
The main address linked to the incident stemmed from the infamous Uranium Finance heist in April 2021, which moved $3.1 million in Bitcoin to Ethereum.
Peck Shield’s original report revealed the movement of $10,000 BUSD via Stargate, a cross-chain bridging mechanism. Additional transfers totaling 3.1 million BUSD were found through further tracing.
The attacker’s strategy involved distributing 500,000 BUSD across six transactions and 100,000 BUSD in another. The batch of transactions, executed within an hour, sparked discussions in the crypto community.
The assets under the exploiter’s BNB Chain address exceeded $15 million and included both BUSD and Wrapped BNB (WBNB). The wallet was empty as of the time of writing.
Furthermore, the exploiter’s Ethereum address displayed assets of 824 Ether, estimated to be worth $1.3 million at the time, in addition to lesser amounts of USDC and USDT.
Notably, 1,200 ETH—worth $1.89 million—were transferred to Tornado Cash, a cryptocurrency mixer, not long after BUSD was transferred to Ethereum. This was done in 12 transactions, each involving 100 ETH.
These actions fit into a trend that was noticed all year, including multiple transfers to Tornado Cash in the months before. The first happened in March and involved moving 2,250 ETH to the mixer using a new address.
By taking advantage of a weakness in the protocol’s pair contracts, the exploiter could withdraw $50 million in cryptocurrency assets in total. On a related note, there have been more illegal cryptocurrency activities in 2024.
According to Scam Sniffer, a prominent phishing assault cost the victim $4.20 million. The con used ERC20 Permit signatures to its advantage, giving the con artists access to the victim’s assets.