$6 million worth of Bitcoin which was stolen from Binance, a Malta-based cryptocurrency exchange is on the move again. According to Coinfirm, a blockchain services company that previously tracked the movement of the hacked Bitcoin to new addresses, some BTC is now being moved in hops which could be in a bid to cover footprints, reports Coindesk on June 13, 2019.
Coinfirm Detects Movement of Binance Hack Bitcoin
Per the report, Coinfirm has detected movement of Bitcoin valued at $6,148,122.40 (1,060.64474480 BTC) from the original wallet where Binance’s stolen funds are hoarded. The $6 million worth of Bitcoin was moved in a uniform pattern.
First, it was transferred from the original wallet (A) to a new wallet (B), the receiving wallet (B) then sends only thousands of dollars to another wallet (C), before what’s left in the previous wallet (B) is sent to a new wallet (D). The loop is then created severally.
Movement of the Bitcoin from Wallets
A more descriptive explanation, is the movement of $6 million worth of BTC from the wallet bc1q2r…, to a new wallet, bc1q65. The latter sheds $15.84 into a small wallet and then moves 1,040.95915580 BTC ($8,242,840.00) into a new wallet who sheds $155,861.00 into the wallet, 1JSfJ…. A final movement of 1,021.53182514 BTC ($8,089,010.00) is made to this wallet who sheds $153,835.00 into this wallet.
It is believed that the movement is made as an attempt to cover footprints while laundering the money or it could be a payment to other parties. However, the high attention that has been given to these wallets may make it difficult to convert to fiat, even though not entirely impossible.
Binance, the exchange in question has been hacked on May 7, 2019, and $40 million worth of Bitcoin was stolen. It had informed that what was stolen is 2 percent of its entire BTC holdings and it was able to cover the losses by relying on SAFU fund. According to them, “The Secure Asset Fund for Users was established on July 14, 2018, and consists of 10 percent of all trading fees.”
