Hacken suggests a potential link between the recent hack on Ripple’s chairman’s personal crypto wallets and an inside job related to the XRP official wallet. The hack occurred on Jan. 31, resulting in the loss of $112.5 million worth of XRP from Chris Larsen’s personal wallets.
The blockchain analytics platform indicates that the hacker involved in the attack may have connections to a wallet associated with Ripple. However, Hacken refrains from definitively stating that the attack was carried out by a Ripple employee, cautioning that it’s too early to draw conclusions. Nonetheless, they highlight the involvement of two wallets connected to XRP’s authorised wallet in the attack.
🚨 @Ripple Case: Insights That Went Unnoticed
Driven by peculiar intricacies surrounding a recent XRP event, our team embarked on an in-depth inquiry
The key outcome of our investigation: two wallets, that took a central stage in the incident, are connected to XRP’s authorized… https://t.co/CQDU9ggkTF
— Hacken🇺🇦 (@hackenclub) February 7, 2024
Following the incident, Binance froze $4.2 million worth of stolen XRP, and Hacken’s investigation reveals that the attacker divided the stolen funds among eight different wallet accounts. Subsequently, significant amounts were transferred through intermediate wallets before reaching a Binance deposit address.
Hacken’s analysis of incoming transactions to each wallet unveils intriguing connections. For instance, a wallet address that previously sent $64.6 million in XRP to Larsen also transferred $37,500 to one of the intermediate wallets utilised in the theft. This suggests a potential link between the sender of funds to Larsen and the attacker.
Moreover, the same wallet account made substantial deposits to a Kraken account in 2020, coinciding with deposits made by the attacker in the recent hack. Hacken alleges that this Kraken account was utilised to funnel funds from the attack. Additionally, the wallet account in question has longstanding ties with XRP, indicating it could be an authorised wallet.
The investigation into the hack is ongoing, with Ripple yet to comment on the matter. However, Hacken’s findings shed light on potential connections between the hack and Ripple’s ecosystem.