Cash From 2021 DAO Maker Crypto Hack Being Mixed Through Tornado Cash

Crypto mixer Tornado Cash once again finds itself as the nexus of stolen tokens from a decentralized finance (DeFi) protocol, as PeckShield has spotted $500,000 of dai (DAI) moving through its pipes.

• Crypto mixers are protocols that obscure the destination of tokens making them harder to track.
• In August 2021, crypto fundraising platform DAO Maker (not related to Maker DAO) suffered a hack that resulted in the loss of $7 million in various stablecoins and ether (ETH).
• Immediately after the 2021 hack, on-chain data shows the funds were sent to two wallets.
• One of the wallets sent approximately 3,800 ether ($6.2 million) to Tornado Cash.
• The other wallet, which held the balance, remained dormant until today, according to on-chain data.
• Earlier this year Tornado Cash was used to mix $15 million in ether, stolen from Singapore-based Crypto.com.
• Tornado Cash’s frequent nexus to stolen funds triggered a debate if its complicit in money laundering, with its founder saying that the protocol isn’t controlled by any single entity and is designed to be unstoppable.
• In August, the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Tornado Cash prohibiting all U.S. persons and entities from interacting with the protocol.

Separately, Coinbase (COIN) is sponsoring a lawsuit to try to get the protocol removed from OFAC’s list.