Bit Jungle: Revealing the Latest Money Transfer Techniques of Hackers
Currently, hackers possess extremely sophisticated money laundering methods, greatly increasing the difficulty of tracking stolen funds. They are not only adept at using traditional techniques such as coin mixing and cross-chain transfers, but are also continuously innovating new money laundering methods to confuse security teams and disrupt fund tracking. Additionally, they often target exchanges that respond slowly, conducting large-scale money laundering operations, further exacerbating the difficulty of asset recovery.
Bit Jungle will share typical methods hackers use to transfer funds from a professional perspective. For clarity in displaying the flow of funds, only a portion of the funding chain is presented here for analysis reference.
01. Cross-Chain
Hackers first transfer their assets, which are settled in the Bitcoin (BTC) network, to the Ethereum (ETH) network through the Thorchain cross-chain protocol, achieving cross-chain fund migration.
02. Coin Mixing
On the Ethereum network, hackers use Tornado Cash for coin mixing operations, conducting initial cleansing of assets through this decentralized mixing service to sever direct tracking clues of the funds. However, hackers do not stop here, but quickly advance to subsequent operations.
03. Creating Meme Coins for Market Making Profits
For example: Hackers created the SQUIRT token and provided initial liquidity by pairing USDT with SQUIRT in a liquidity pool. Through a series of trading activities, they further obscure the flow of funds, subsequently transferring the funds out of the trading pair.
The latest money transfer techniques of hackers not only increase the complexity of fund flows but also effectively lower the risk value of assets through high-frequency trading and liquidity operations, making them more difficult to trace by regulatory agencies or blockchain analysis tools.
After completing the above operations and clearing the relevant liquidity pools, hackers transfer the cleansed assets to centralized exchanges, further conducting multiple transfers and dispersions through the exchange's account system, ultimately achieving the concealment and distribution of funds.
