MonoX Finance’s Hacker Starts Moving $31M Loot via Sanctioned Tornado Cash

The exploiter behind the hack of DeFi protocol MonoX has moved $2.1 million from the stolen $31 million to the recently sanctioned privacy network, Tornado Cash.

Hacker Moves $2.1M

According to data on the blockchain explorer, Etherscan, the hacker moved about 1300 ETH worth approximately $2.1 million via Tornado Cash. The bad actor transferred the funds in a set of 100 ETHs.

Recall that the United States Treasury Department had earlier sanctioned the crypto mixer from being used in the country, as it was tied to multiple DeFi exploits. The sanctions entailed that crypto exchanges operating within the country must block transactions connected to Tornado Cash.

While the location of the hacker is unknown, it is possible that the funds could get blocked if they are sent to any crypto exchange operating in the United States.

MonoX Hack News

In November 2021, MonoX got hacked for approximately $31 million due to an exploit of a smart contract bug in the protocol’s Ethereum and Polygon deployment. The hacker further conducted the theft by manipulating the price of MonoX’s native token, $MONO, and stealing the aforementioned fund.

According to analytics platform DeFiLlama, MonoX had $37.3 million worth of funds in its Total Value Locked (TVL) just before the hack. To date, the protocol has not seemed to recover from the loss, as it currently holds around $11,600 in its TVL, representing more than a 99% drop amid a broader market decline.

The native token for MonoX, $MONO has also seen a drastic price decline since the attack. After hitting an all-time high of $7.48 in November 2021, the token has seen a huge tank, bringing its current trading price to $0.11.

DeFi Hacks on the Rise

Several decentralized protocols have become victims of exploits by bad actors. The hackers have utilized different methods to facilitate their attacks, such as the use of frontend attacks, and even attacks on network bridges.

Last week, decentralized exchange (DEX) Kyberswap suffered a front-end attack, resulting in the loss of $265,000 worth of funds. Earlier last month, the cross-chain protocol Nomad bridge saw an exploit that caused the loss of about $200 million to bad actors.