Hackers Behind $41M Stake Heist Transfer BNB and MATIC

The hackers responsible for the $41 million crypto heist at Stake’s casino have recently executed additional transactions, transferring around $328,000 worth of Polygon (MATIC) and Binance Coin (BNB) tokens.

These latest movements come in the wake of the exploit on September 4th and have been reported by blockchain security firm CertiK.

In their most recent activity, the hackers transferred 300 BNB tokens valued at around $61,500 to an externally owned address labeled “0x695.” These tokens were then bridged to the Avalanche blockchain on September 11th at 4:09 p.m. UTC.

Additionally, 520,000 MATIC tokens, worth over $266,000, were moved to Avalanche seven hours earlier, at 7:18 a.m. UTC.

https://x.com/CertiKAlert/status/1701133201379303933?s=20

The total sum of $328,000 in MATIC and BNB tokens adds to the $4.5 million in stolen funds that were previously bridged to the Bitcoin blockchain in the form of BTC on September 7th, as reported by blockchain security firm Arkham.

However, it’s important to note that the $4.8 million transferred accounts for only 1.2% of the total $41 million stolen by the hackers during the exploit.

The initial hack occurred on September 4th when the hackers gained access to the private key of Stake’s Binance Smart Chain and Ethereum hot wallets.

It is believed that North Korea’s Lazarus Group was responsible for the exploit, according to the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation.

With the $41 million stolen from Stake, the total losses from cryptocurrency hacks and scams in the industry will now exceed $1 billion in 2023.

CertiK had previously reported the figure to be $997 million at the end of August. However, the series of attacks in the last two weeks has pushed this figure beyond the $1 billion mark.