Chainalysis Says Bitcoin Scammed From Twitter Users Is ‘On the Move’

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16 July 2020

The defrauded bitcoin amassed during Wednesday’s monumental Twitter hack is already “on the move,” according to cryptocurrency tracing firm Chainalysis.

  • Chainalysis told CoinDesk it is monitoring four wallets associated with the attack.
  • The most prevalent address received $120,000 in bitcoin from 375 transactions. Secondary addresses received $6,700 in bitcoin from 100 transactions. An XRP wallet netted nothing.
  • So far, a wallet whose associations are not yet known has received five bitcoin ($46,055) in total. “We are collaborating with our customers to find leads from this wallet,” Chainalysis spokesperson Maddie Kennedy said.
  • Part of the scam relied on hackers churning their own crypto between wallets to inflate the number of people who appeared to be chipping in, according to Chainalysis. The firm called the tactic “unsurprising.”
  • A Japanese wallet that sent scammers $40,000 in bitcoin appears to have been the single largest victim of the still-unexplained hack. International exchanges were generally the source of victims’ bitcoin, Chainalysis said.
  • No BTC has been cashed out to fiat just yet, the crypto-sleuthing firm added.
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Chainalysis has its eyes on four addresses associated with the hack.
Source: Chainalysis

Read more: Twitter Breach Reactions: Security Professionals Offer an Early Assessment

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SPOILS: Over the course of the day, a Bitcoin address associated with the Twitter hack received more than 12 BTC, worth close to $130K.
Source: CoinDesk Research visualization of blockchair.com/api data
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