Rain Crypto Exchange Hacked for $15m, Reports ZachXBT

On April 29, 2024, Rain, a cryptocurrency exchange based in Bahrain, suffered a significant security breach, resulting in a loss of $14.8 million. Blockchain expert ZachXBT uncovered that the attackers transferred the stolen assets into several wallets containing 137.9 BTC and 1,881 ETH. These assets have not been moved since the incident. The breach involved unauthorized outflows from Rain’s wallets, including those holding BTC, ETH, SOL, and XRP. The stolen funds were quickly converted to BTC and ETH using instant exchanges.

Tracking the Path of Stolen Crypto

Investigations revealed that the Ethereum stolen in the breach was funneled into a wallet identified by its last characters as d609. This wallet received multiple transfers from Bitgo multisignature wallets on the day of the breach, involving over 590 ETH and various tokens like Shiba Inu and Chainlink. These were swiftly exchanged for ETH on Uniswap. Arkham Intelligence noted that the d609 address also traded several other tokens like Aave and MakerDAO for ETH, indicating a methodical attempt to obscure the origins of the stolen funds.

Ongoing Security Challenges in the Crypto Sphere

The Rain incident underscores a persistent challenge in the crypto sector, which has seen losses totaling $2 billion over the past year due to similar breaches. The first quarter of this year alone recorded $333 million in losses from hacks. Other recent incidents include a security flaw in a trading protocol resulting in a $600,000 theft, although most funds were later retrieved through a bug bounty program.

Additionally, the crypto community experienced other notable breaches. The Gnus AI community lost $1.27 million through a compromised Discord channel on May 6. Shortly after, the Galaxy Fox web3 platform suffered a hack due to a smart contract vulnerability, leading to the theft of over 108 ETH. These incidents demonstrate the financial and operational impacts of cyberattacks and highlight the urgent need for enhanced security measures across the cryptocurrency and web3 industries.