Despite being stuck in a bear market in 2022, innovation did not stop in the crypto space. Developers kept doing their job with due diligence and major upgrades like the Vasil hardfork and the Merge were introduced.
At the same time, hackers did not refrain from taking undue advantage of the discrepancies and loopholes. A host of compromises happened in 2022 and billions were drained out of the ecosystem. In fact, the month of October was dubbed to ‘Hacktober‘ by people from space to reflect the same.
North Korea’s Lazarus Group has been responsible for some of the most damaging hacks that took place within the crypto ecosystem. Their name has been associated with attacks, including the ones on Ronin Bridge and Harmony Bridge.
Harmony Bridge Hack Funds Displaced
A recent analysis by on-chain sleuth ZachXBT revealed that the group moved funds worth $63.5 million—comprising of 41,000 ETH tokens—from the Harmony Bridge hack. The transfers were allegedly facilitated by Railgun, a smart contract dark pool on Ethereum.
Over 350 addresses were involved in the shuffling. After that, the funds were consolidated and deposited on three different exchanges.
Also Read: Ethereum Unlocks New Milestone: Number Of Validators Surpass 500K
From the on-chain perspective, transfers to exchanges are conventionally viewed as selling and are not a welcoming sign. However, this time it seemed different.
A particular user questioned ZachXBT asking why would the group put everything at risk by sending tokens to exchanges. Clarifying the same, the sleuth said transferred funds are usually withdrawn from exchanges almost immediately. It helps obfuscate the path, hindering traceability. Thus, the group might end up following the same path eventually.
Ethereum Sell Pressure Mounting?
ETH, along with other coins from the market, has been trading in green. The largest Altcoin has rallied by more than 20% over the past week. Hence, the number of addresses in loss has been on the fall. According to data from Glassnode, this metric reached a new one-month low of 39.05 million on Monday.
On one hand, this might seem to be a positive development. However, it also serves as a veiled hint and points towards the likely rise in sell pressure going forward. More so, because investors who break even will be tempted to cash out. If that is indeed the case, then the latest surge could turn out to be a dead cat bounce.
Furthermore, the dormancy of ETH is falling. ETH supply last active between 3-5 years claimed a new 3-year low, suggesting that old coins are on the move. Thus, the whole situation is quite unpredictable at the moment and investors need to exercise caution.
Also Read: ETH, ADA, SOL trigger “Altcoin Rally” but Investors should be Wary