The intruders who breached the US government digital wallets on October 24 probably pilfered about $19,674,524; however, they restored $19,346,045. As cited by the blockchain investigators Arkham and ZachXBT, the attackers withdrew the funds, approximately 88% of the total amount taken, back within 24 hours after the theft; I am not sure why the attackers would withdraw the stolen funds from the community.
It initially enabled illicit digital assets seized in previous cyber-related crimes, including the Bitfinex theft, to be emptied from government wallets. When studying on-chain data, we found that most users who withdrew their funds did so in Aave USDC $13,190,300, while the rest were in USDC and ETH.
𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: $𝟭𝟵𝗠 𝗨𝗦 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗻𝗲𝗱
The US Government’s address has just received $19.3M back following yesterday’s reported hack, less than 24 hours after the initial address breach.
88% of the compromised USD value has now been… https://t.co/F8q6iikBrT pic.twitter.com/Vo7I7ZH9K1
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) October 25, 2024
Something like this makes a comeback after a relatively short span of time, and the reasons behind such a move continue to generate ample interest within the crypto fraternity. Some people have queried if it was possible to tap into the US government wallets in the first place. In contrast, others have queried if the possibility of earning federal retribution or even a bug bounty deal may have made them come back out.
Threat Spurs Trend of Hackers Returning Funds
The hackers’ objective remains invisible, and the performance enhances the trend of hackers recovering the stolen funds if willing. Among them are circumstances when there is public pressure, the need to introduce new security measures, or ethical concerns.
However, analysts believe the US government will likely investigate the event further. Recently, the US government has stepped up its campaigns to fight related financial crimes; recently, federal prosecutors indicted hackers who attacked Bitfinex and an Alabama man connected with a fake spot Bitcoin Fund offer.
As the rest of crypto marches incessantly to the problem, it shows that crypto asset security has not yet gotten very concrete, even at the corporate level, and conflict-minded people have reason to circumvent it.
