Post six years of hodling, experts believe that the “Blockchain Bandit” has become active again. It is believed that the entity started moving a certain portion of the $90 million worth of stolen funds present in their wallet, as reported by Chainalysis.
According to Chainalysis, Blockchain Bandit is an anonymous individual or group who stole from wallets belonging to 10,000 cryptocurrency users in 2015-16, using a method called “Ethercombing” to hack Ethereum addresses having weak private keys. Through utilisation of this strategy, Blockchain Bandit allegedly stole more than 51,000 Ether.
On the basis of information by Chainalysis, on January 16, 2023, it was found that Blockchain Bandit restarted transacting. Between that date and January 21, 2023, the entity shifted approximately the entirety of their holdings – 51,000 Ether and 470 Bitcoin amounting to around $90 million based on current prices – to new addresses.
Moreover, Chainalysis noted that the sudden spike in activity can be associated with the current increase in crypto asset prices. Experts believe that active measures should be taken up related to private keys. It is believed that users have been advised to keep their funds in well-known, trusted personal wallets which won’t create weak private keys, and should take into account keeping large holdings in hardware wallets, on account of not conducting transactions regularly.
(With insights from Chainalysis)
