THORChain Used in Disguising $35M Loot from Atomic Wallet Hack

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A daring cyber heist led to the theft of an astonishing $35 million from Atomic Wallet, as reported by MistTrack, a meticulous blockchain investigator. This audacious robbery was cleverly covered up by the perpetrators, who used THORChain, a protocol offering cross-chain liquidity, to mask their substantial illegitimate earnings.

MistTrack has revealed that a hefty portion of the loot, amounting to 503.08 Ether (ETH), approximated at nearly $870,000, was stealthily moved into THORChain in the previous two days. The criminals then managed to transform their stolen Ether into Bitcoin (BTC) via a flawless exchange.

In a sophisticated maneuver to further obscure their activities, the hackers exploited the Swift blockchain. They utilized it to convert some of the ill-gotten Ether into multiple Bitcoin addresses, a strategy revealed by MistTrack.

A recent surprising development showed that a section of the stolen funds was moved to Garantex, a cryptocurrency exchange. Notably, this exchange had faced penalties from the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) in April.

The masterminds behind this highly complex operation may have been identified by blockchain security firm Elliptic. Their evidence strongly indicates that the notorious North Korean hacking group Lazarus is behind this audacious attack.

Despite the flurry of transactions linked to the hack, the native token of THORChain, RUNE, has remained steady. Currently, it is trading at 84 cents, showing a modest rise over the past day, in defiance of the chaos surrounding it.

The news of this incident has sent shockwaves across the cryptocurrency world, emphasizing the crucial requirement for more robust security protocols to protect digital assets from such bold and calculated cyberattacks.

About THORChain

THORChain is a decentralized cross-chain liquidity protocol that allows users to swap assets between blockchain networks. It is a settlement layer that facilitates swaps between 8 chains: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Chain, Avalanche, Cosmos Hub, Dogecoin, Litecoin, and Bitcoin Cash. RUNE is its native token.

Anyone can use THORChain to swap native assets between any supported chains. What is unique about it is that it doesn’t involve synthetic assets, or “wrapped tokens” as they are sometimes called, such as wBTC, wETH, etc. Almost all other existing solutions to this problem of swapping between different chains have the major weakness that they rely on wrapped tokens.

Using wrapped assets breaks decentralization, as these are usually issued and held by centralized exchanges and, in addition, exposes the user to many security issues. For example, when popular exchange FTX went out of business, users that relied on wrapped assets issued by the exchange lost it all.

THORChain is a non-profit organization and its team doesn’t keep any of the RUNE funds used for fees on the protocol but instead distributes all RUNE spent on fees to network participants.

THORChain Features and Price Potential

One of the investors in THORChain is Guy Turner, the host of the very popular YouTube channel Coin Bureau, and in one of his recent videos mentioned ThORChain as one of the most promising projects that he’s keeping an eye on and is optimistic about.

The project is packed with original features that are not found in other crypto projects. It provides several ways for participants to earn money, through Liquidity Providers, Arbitrageurs and more recently the newly introduced Savers Vaults, which allows users to earn in-kind yield on native assets without any price exposure to RUNE. Thus, a user can use their self-custody wallet to earn Bitcoin on their Bitcoin.

During the most recent bull market, RUNE traded as high as $21.28. Due to overall crypto winter, it has decreased to a current price which hovers around $0.88. This is a great price-point for investors to get in, since if it reaches at least the top of the previous bull market high, it would provide 25x+ returns. However, due to the project’s innovative feature and team, it is very likely that it will reach much more than that, and will potentially provide 50x-100x returns, especially if it becomes established as the leader in cross-chain transactions.

About Atomic Wallet

Atomic Wallet is a decentralized wallet that supports multiple cryptocurrencies and has desktop and mobile versions. Its easy-to-use interface makes it an excellent option for crypto investors to securely and anonymously manage their portfolios. Besides presenting an opportunity for users to swap, exchange, or convert crypto-based assets, Atomic Wallet also allows users to earn rewards through various means such as staking and cashback programs. The platform has 24/7 customer support.

Atomic Wallet supports over 300 crypto assets including Bitcoin, Ethereum, Ripple’s XRP, Bitcoin Cash and Litecoin. There are no Atomic wallet fees for downloading or using the app but some services attract fees at certain times, such as 7% commission on cryptocurrency purchases via credit card plus a $10 minimum fee. Atomic wallet offers relatively high security features to keep your crypto funds safe, however it has been subject to numerous hacks.

The most recent hack of Atomic Wallet occurred on June 13 when North Korean hackers stole over $100 million from its users. For these reasons, we do not recommend it as a wallet solution. For better wallet solution, check our guide for the 9 best crypto wallets.