• A hacker has exchanged $150 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) into staked coins
• The hacker used a decentralized exchange (DEX) and cycled funds around different DeFi protocols
• The hacker was able to perform the swaps through OpenOcean, a DEX aggregator
A recent activity that has caught the attention of the crypto world is the exchange of $150 million worth of Ethereum (ETH) into staked coins. This was done by a hacker who is believed to have stolen $323 million worth of ETH from Wormhole, a cross-chain protocol. The theft, which occurred in 2022, is one of the biggest of its kind to date.
The hacker’s activity was first highlighted by Twitter user @Spreekaway on Monday, January 23, when he noted that the hacker had converted his ETH to wstETH and was going to borrow DAI against it. Records on Etherscan showed that the hacker had transferred the funds onto a decentralized exchange (DEX) and then went on to cycle funds around different DeFi protocols.
The series of swaps started as the hacker address consolidated Ether before starting off a swap for 95,630 ETH ($157.2 million) into the staked ether (stETH) through OpenOcean, a popular decentralized exchange (DEX) aggregator. OpenOcean is a DEX aggregator that enables users to access multiple DEXs from one platform, allowing them to compare prices and liquidity across all exchanges in real time.
The hacker then swapped the stETH for 86,473 wrapped summer tokens (WST) and moved the tokens to Uniswap, a decentralized exchange. The hacker swapped the WST for Dai (DAI), a decentralized stablecoin, and then moved the DAI to MakerDAO, a platform for creating and managing Dai. MakerDAO is also a decentralized lending platform, and the hacker borrowed DAI against the ETH he had staked.
Finally, the hacker moved the remaining ETH to an address that is believed to be controlled by the hacker, thus completing the series of swaps. The hacker was able to successfully exchange $150 million worth of ETH into staked coins and other DeFi protocols.
Although the exact motives of the hacker are not known, it is believed that the hacker wanted to take advantage of the staking and DeFi protocols to maximize his gains. The hacker was able to exploit the DeFi protocols and make a significant profit from the swaps. This incident serves as a reminder of the importance of staying vigilant and secure when it comes to crypto transactions.