Radiant Capital Hacker Moves $52 Million in Crypto to Ethereum

A recent discovery by blockchain forensic firm PeckShield revealed that the hacker behind the Radiant Capital exploit has transferred $52 million worth of crypto into the Ethereum network.

In an October 24 post on X, PeckShield reported that wallets linked to the Radiant Capital exploiter moved nearly all stolen funds from the Arbitrum layer 2 network and the Binance BNB Chain into Ethereum.

The hacker converted the stolen assets into approximately 20,500 Ether, valued at around $52 million.

On October 16, Radiant Capital, a DeFi lending platform, suffered a significant loss exceeding $50 million due to a malware attack that compromised funds on its Arbitrum chain. According to a post-mortem report, the attackers executed a sophisticated malware injection that compromised the hardware wallets of at least three Radiant developers, earning the attack the label of “one of the most sophisticated hacks ever recorded in DeFi.”

Often, hackers move stolen funds to the Ethereum network and use crypto mixers to launder the assets, complicating recovery efforts. This tactic has been employed in various high-profile crypto hacks this year, including incidents involving WazirX, CoinStats, and Orbit Chain.

On October 23, Radiant Capital urged users to secure their wallets by revoking approvals to affected contracts on revoke.cash. The platform provided a list of contracts for users to revoke access, emphasizing the importance of taking swift action: “This is not optional—take one minute to protect your assets by visiting revoke.cash and removing any permissions to prevent further losses!”

Furthermore, the decentralized finance project, built on LayerZero, reaffirmed its commitment to tracking down and freezing the stolen funds in collaboration with security experts and law enforcement.

PeckShield's data indicates that in September 2024 alone, crypto players suffered losses exceeding $120 million due to hacks. Notable incidents included breaches at platforms such as BingX, Penpie, and Indodax.