Bitcoin (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC) networks are in the middle of a massive crypto heist, with hackers allegedly making off with $282 million in a sophisticated social engineering attack against hardware wallets, Lookonchain reported on X.
After the theft, the hacker was quick to exchange the Bitcoin and Litecoin into Monero, which is an anonymous currency. The sudden exchange of the two currencies caused the price of Monero to rise significantly, increasing from $612.02 to $717.69.
However, the price was subsequently lowered to $623.05, showing a decrease of 11.41% over the last 24 hours. The trade volumes also decreased by a significant level of nearly 30% to reach $255.75 million due to the concern of the community that the attacker may withdraw Monero in exchange for other cryptocurrencies.
Bitcoin Theft Exploits THORChain Platform
The hacker appeared to use THORChain, a decentralized platform that helps crypto be exchanged across blockchains without the need to go through a central exchange.
This made it possible to quickly move the stolen funds, which are difficult to trace, thus showing the difficulties involved in tracking crypto heists, particularly if privacy coins are used. The hacker is believed to be experienced in the process of moving and laundering stolen crypto.
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Monero’s Rising Popularity
Its privacy capabilities and market performance have allowed Monero to enter the list of top 15 cryptocurrencies in market capitalization and now ranks 12th at $11.54 billion. Monero has even caught the attention of prominent personalities in the crypto industry, like Peter Brandt, who recently claimed profits from Monero trading.
Privacy coins like Monero, Zcash, and Dash have sometimes been associated with scam activities. However, privacy coins have been an integral part of the future of Web3 and provide users with privacy and security.
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