Crypto stories need evidence.Open methods · Traceable sources ↗
C✓WhyCoinMovesTHE EVIDENCE DESK
← ETH event archive

Drift exploit-linked wallets move 25,700 ETH worth $61.56 million into Tornado Cash

Wallets tied to April's $295 million Drift Protocol exploit sent 25,700 Ethereum, worth about $61.56 million, into Tornado Cash over roughly two hours on Tuesday, Decrypt reported, citing Arkham Intelligence transfer data. The deposits came in batches of 100 ETH (about $237,800 each) plus smaller 10 ETH chunks. Arkham's page tracking 71 addresses linked to the attacker still showed 81,454 ETH, roughly $198.58 million, in those wallets. An earlier round on July 23 and 24 moved about 23,095 ETH. Drift said forensic firm Mandiant attributed the attack to North Korean group UNC6862.

Evidence strength Multiple publishers

2 independent publishers report it (copies of the same text count once); they may still rely on one underlying source. An official source would raise it.

ImportanceHigh

Security topic · core coin ETH · 2 publishers

UrgencyUrgent

Fresh security news

Three separate rule-based signals. None is the probability that the report is true. How they work ↗

Key facts

Attributed sources: Cointelegraph Decrypt

ETH after this site detected it

  • 5 minutes+0.01%vs BTC -0.01 pp
  • 1 hour-0.15%vs BTC -0.15 pp
  • 24 hours—Window not complete
Source published First received Updated UTC

Claims and open questions

What sources claim

  • Decrypt, citing Arkham Intelligence, reported the deposits came in batches of 100 ETH worth about $237,800 each, plus smaller 10 ETH chunks.
  • Arkham's entity page tracking 71 addresses linked to the attacker still showed 81,454 ETH, worth roughly $198.58 million, after the deposits, per Decrypt.
  • Drift said in June that forensic firm Mandiant attributed the April 1 exploit to UNC6862, a North Korean threat group, according to Decrypt.

Still unresolved

  • Whether the attacker will move the remaining 81,454 ETH, and where any further funds would be sent, would be shown by on-chain data from Arkham or similar trackers.
  • Whether law enforcement, exchanges or Tether will freeze or recover any of the moved funds, and how much, would be confirmed by official announcements or a notice from those parties.
  • The exact composition of the roughly $561,600 in other tokens held in the attacker's wallets would be confirmed by an updated on-chain portfolio view.

Model-assisted explanation; citations, numbers and output format are checked. This is not independent semantic verification.

Source evidence

1
CointelegraphNews publisher
Drift exploiter sends $61M ETH to Tornado Cash, holds $194M ↗

cointelegraph.com

Published 20/10/2026, 12:38 · Received 20/10/2026, 12:42

2
DecryptNews publisher
Wallet Linked to Drift Exploit Sends $61 Million in Ethereum to Tornado Cash ↗

decrypt.co

Published 20/10/2026, 20:46 · Received 20/10/2026, 20:49

Original source titles remain in their source language. Full articles are not republished.

Market reaction after detection

Returns start at the sample closest to site detection (within the same minute up to 10 minutes later), using the same data source and quote currency. Actual sample times are shown; missing observations remain blank.

Observed returns after site detection
WindowReturnBTCDifference from BTC (pp)Actual sampled interval / source
5 minutes+0.01%+0.01%-0.01 pp20/10/2026, 12:42 → 20/10/2026, 12:47 (UTC)
Gate · USDT
1 hour-0.15%-0.00%-0.15 pp20/10/2026, 12:42 → 20/10/2026, 13:42 (UTC)
Gate · USDT
24 hours———Awaiting a complete valid window

Historical market context

Research: hourly returns and BTC beta →

Closed hourly candles from the 30 days before this event observation. Different venues are kept separate.

Prior 30-day hourly baseline
MetricValue
Hourly coverage100.0% (720/720)
Median absolute 1h return0.19%
99th percentile of absolute 1h returns1.46%
Historical hourly BTC beta1.12 (719 matched returns)

OKX · USDT · Context as of 20/10/2026, 12:42 · Last included candle closed 20/10/2026, 12:00

Hourly descriptive statistics, not minute-move probabilities. Backfilled history never moves the observation cutoff above.

Event timeline

Source publication, receipt and analysis times are separate. All times UTC.

  1. Source published: Cointelegraph

  2. Source received: Cointelegraph

  3. Event first detected by this site

  4. Evidence record updated

  5. Source published: Decrypt

  6. Source received: Decrypt

  7. Additional source received; evidence recalculated

  8. English explanation generated

  9. Latest content update

Recent ETH events and market reactions

Full coin archive →

Research for this archive