This $28M Crypto Hack Was Nearly Perfect — Until ZachXBT Stepped In

Investigator Follows the Trail Through Mixers and Privacy Networks On-chain investigator ZachXBT has uncovered new evidence in one of the largest crypto hacks of 2024 — the attack on the Bittensor protocol, which led to the theft of approximately $28 million in TAO ￰0￱ the hacker’s use of Railgun’s privacy system, ZachXBT successfully traced the movement of the stolen funds, eventually identifying a key suspect linked to the ￰1￱ to the analyst, the attackers initially withdrew assets through instant exchanges, converting them into Monero. Later, they transferred about $5 million to Railgun using Ethereum, USDC, and ￰2￱ Railgun, much like Tornado Cash, promotes itself as a tool for private transactions, it has also been exploited to conceal stolen crypto ￰3￱ NFTs Helped Hide the Trail ZachXBT’s investigation relied on precise timing and value matching to connect deposits and withdrawals within the Railgun system.

“Unique denominations and short intervals between transactions ensure reliable de-mixing,” he ￰4￱ the withdrawals, the stolen assets were divided among three wallets that were later used to buy and resell anime-themed ￰5￱ fake NFT trading is uncommon for laundering crypto, in this case it helped disguise the ￰6￱ of these addresses was tied to a Bittensor user known as Rusty, creator of Skrtt Racing — a project that allowed cryptocurrency betting on Hot Wheels–style toy ￰7￱ later determined that the individual, identified in court records as Ayden B, denied involvement in the hack but confirmed ownership of the wallets connected to the suspicious ￰8￱ investigator expressed hope that the evidence collected could form the basis of a criminal case.