Mixin Network Hacker Moves $3.85M in Ethereum to Tornado Cash

TLDR

• A wallet linked to the Mixin Network hack transferred $3.85 million worth of Ethereum to Tornado Cash.
• The funds were moved from a hacker-controlled wallet that had been inactive for almost two years.
• The transaction took place on February 12, 2026, marking the first movement of funds since the September 2023 hack.
• The Ethereum was split into 20 separate transactions before being sent to Tornado Cash.
• Mixin Network had promised compensation to affected users, with part of the debt being repaid in Mixin Debt Tokens.
• The Mixin hack in 2023 resulted in the theft of around $200 million worth of assets across multiple blockchains.

A wallet linked to the Mixin Network hack has transferred $3.85 million worth of Ethereum to Tornado Cash. The funds were moved from a hacker-controlled wallet that had been inactive for nearly two years. This transaction took place on February 12, 2026, marking the first movement of funds since the 2023 exploit.

Mixin Hacker Wallet Transfers Funds

On Thursday night, the hacker-controlled wallet, identified by blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, sent 2,210 ETH worth around $3.85 million. This wallet had remained dormant for over two years after the Mixin hack in September 2023. The transfer took place late on February 12, and it was one of the largest movements of funds from the exploit since it occurred.

Once the funds were transferred to a new address (0x9c), they were quickly funneled into Tornado Cash, a popular coin mixing service. Tornado Cash allows users to obfuscate the origin of their transactions, making it difficult to trace the flow of funds. In total, the $3.85 million was split into 20 separate transactions to enhance the anonymity of the transaction process.

The Mixin Network hack in September 2023 saw attackers exploit a vulnerability in the platform’s cloud service provider. This breach resulted in the loss of around $200 million worth of assets across several blockchains. Despite the scale of the attack, Mixin Network continued operations, pledging to compensate users affected by the hack.

Funds Routed Through Tornado Cash

Following the exploit, Mixin Network suspended deposits and withdrawals, launching an investigation with the help of Google and blockchain security firm SlowMist. In its response, Mixin promised to repay users affected by the hack, issuing tokenized claims in the form of Mixin Debt Tokens (MDT). According to Mixin’s official statement, users would be repaid 50% of their losses in stablecoins, with the rest in MDT, representing claims on future repayment.

The team announced that MDTu, which represents about $23 million, would be fully repaid by September 2026. However, no firm repayment schedule has been provided for the other debt categories, MDTb and MDTe. As of the latest update, Mixin continues to manage over $1 billion in assets and serves more than 1 million customers.

After the Mixin hacker wallet made the Ethereum transfer, the funds were sent to Tornado Cash. The coin mixer allows users to conceal the origin and destination of crypto assets, effectively disrupting the tracing of illicit activities. Blockchain analysis confirmed the funds’ movement through Tornado Cash, with each transaction broken into smaller amounts to increase the difficulty of tracing.

The transfer of funds to Tornado Cash could complicate future efforts to recover the stolen assets. Despite ongoing investigations, the use of privacy-enhancing technologies like Tornado Cash presents challenges for authorities trying to track illicit crypto activity. Tornado Cash’s involvement in this case underscores the platform’s role in providing anonymity, which continues to draw scrutiny from regulators.

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