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The hacker behind the $25 million Kronos Research exploit has transferred another $2.6 million worth of Ether&nbsp;to the cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash.
The transfer, worth 700 Ether (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/ethereum-price" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">ETH</a>), occurred from the Kronos exploiter wallet “0x3"on May 21, according to an X post by on-chain security firm <a href="https://x.com/PeckShieldAlert/status/1792854095000174988/photo/1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">PeckShield</a>.
<figure><img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-05/0b06ca1c-dacc-446a-b4ce-7df2de7482ce.jpeg">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">Kronos exploiter transfer. Source: PeckShield
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The exploiter sent three transactions worth 100 Ether each on May 20, followed by today’s seven additional 100 ETH transactions, bringing the total to 1,000 Ether worth over $3.7 million at today’s price.
Following the transfer of 1,000 Ether, the wallet is still holding a little over 60 ETH, worth over $223,000. At peak, the hacker’s wallet was worth over $6.4 million on May 19, <a href="https://coinstats.app/address/0x3A102E03b35Aa5a3D97092a7EE05fAd2f5212B9D/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CoinStats</a> data shows.
<figure><img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-05/6b3bb988-5ec4-4ef2-8acf-46e8c209da4e.png">
 <figcaption style="text-align: center;">Kroton exploiter transfers. Source: Coinstats
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The hacker’s decision to launder the funds is likely due to Ether’s rapid price surge. Ether price rose over 20% during the past 24 hours to trade at $3,744 as of 11:14 am UTC. The last time Ether traded above $3,700 was on March 15, according to <a href="https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/ethereum/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">CoinMarketCap</a>.
The Ether rally follows reports that the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/sec-reconsidering-spot-ether-etf-denial-analysts" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">has U-turned on spot Ether ETFs</a> — possibly due <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/united-states-joe-biden-sab-121-accounting-crypto-law" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">to political pressure</a> — with reports stating it has asked ETF exchanges to update their 19b-4 filings.
Adding to the bullish investor sentiment, senior Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas has increased the odds of approval to 75% from just 25%.
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/fidelity-amends-ether-etf-filing-removes-eth-staking" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Fidelity reportedly amends Ether ETF S-1 filing, removes ETH staking</a>
Crypto mixing protocols like Tornado Cash are used to obscure the path of crypto transactions and make it extremely difficult to trace the source of the funds — which can be used by exploiters when laundering crypto from illicit activities.
The <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/kronos-research-hacker-funds-tornado-cash-exploit" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Kronos Research hacker hasn’t moved funds</a> since May 7, when the exploiter transferred 1,314 Ether worth over $4 million to the same crypto mixing service.<iframe width="100%" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/kyNQ5YoFkWo" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<figcaption style="text-align: center;">$3 billion stolen in hacks — Why are crypto crimes surging? Source: Cointelegraph
</figcaption>
<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/kronos-research-halts-trading-25-m-hack-investigation" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Kronos Capital was exploited in November 2023</a> after the exploiters managed to gain access to the firm’s application programming interface keys. The firm first denied any loss of funds during its early announcement.
Later, on-chain investigator ZachXBT revealed that roughly 12,800 ETH worth $25 million was stolen and transferred into six unique crypto wallet addresses. Kronos Capital halted its trading services to investigate the loss.
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/trader-turns-3k-into-46m-pepe-ethereum-gas-overhaul-tornado-cash-dev-guilty-hodlers-digest-may-12-18/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Trader turns $3K into $46M in PEPE, Ethereum gas overhaul, Tornado dev guilty: Hodler’s Digest, May 12-18</a>

Kronos Research hacker moves $3.7M to Tornado Cash after Ethereum price surge

Cointelegraph

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