THORChain generated greater than $5 million in whole income after the protocol’s asset swap quantity hit file highs, pushed by the exploiter behind the $1.4 billion Bybit hack.
Centralized crypto alternate Bybit was hacked for over $1.4 billion value of crypto on Feb. 21 within the largest hack in crypto historical past.
The North Korean state-affiliated Lazarus Group, recognized as the primary suspect by blockchain safety companies, continued laundering the stolen funds, utilizing crosschain asset swap protocol THORChain for a big a part of the transfers.
Because the exploit, THORChain has processed greater than $5.4 billion in whole swap quantity, producing about $5.5 million in income, in accordance to information from the THORChain explorer.
Complete swap quantity. Supply: THORChain explorer
THORChain’s swap quantity exceeded $1 billion in a single day following the Bybit hack, in response to a Feb. 27 report from Cointelegraph. The protocol generated over $554,000 in whole earnings that day.
Amid the income milestone, THORChain stays beneath scrutiny for its function in facilitating the motion of illicit funds. On Feb. 28, a THORChain developer give up the protocol after a vote to dam North Korean hacker-linked illicit funds was reverted.
“Successfully instantly, I’ll not be contributing to THORChain,” the crosschain swap protocol’s core developer, solely generally known as “Pluto,” wrote in a Feb. 27 X put up.
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THORChain criticized for permitting stolen funds to circulate
“THORChain simply helped North Korea launder $605 million. No KYC, no off change, no resistance. Lazarus Group jacked Bybit for $1.5 billion in February 2025, then funneled the stolen ETH by THORChain prefer it was constructed for them,” crypto commentator Yogi wrote in a March 4 X put up.
Supply: Yogi
“Different protocols have blocked soiled wallets with out killing decentralization. THORChain had choices—Elliptic, transaction monitoring—however ignored them,” he added.
Associated: Bybit hacker launders $605M ETH, over 50% of stolen funds
On Feb. 26, blockchain analytics agency Elliptic flagged 11,084 cryptocurrency pockets addresses suspected of being linked to the Bybit exploit. That listing is anticipated to develop as investigations proceed.
On March 4, Bybit CEO Ben Zhou confirmed that $280 million of the stolen funds had gone darkish, that means that it had been laundered and was not traceable.
Journal: THORChain founder and his plan to ‘vampire assault’ all of DeFi
