Chainalysis has traced the laundering of stolen Binance funds to Chinese networks, including over-the-counter platforms, following the $6.3 billion theft. Hundreds of thousands of dollars have reached those networks—a small fraction of the stolen cryptocurrency, but evidence that the hackers are attempting to cash out.

Nearly $1 billion in stolen assets has begun flowing into laundering channels. Crypto companies have frozen about $3 billion, while roughly $2.42 billion in bitcoin and ether has shown little movement since the attack.

Tracking the laundering of stolen Binance funds

Chainalysis data show that hackers routed approximately $500 million through TRON, spreading the cryptocurrency among more than 1,000 addresses before transferring it to blockchains including Ethereum and Bitcoin. The firm also identified a further phase of laundering involving Solana after funds moved through intermediary TRON wallets.

Earlier tracing by Elliptic illustrates the operation’s scale. During the attack’s first four days, the hackers conducted more than 40,000 transactions using roughly 12,000 wallets on 11 blockchains. Elliptic described the activity as highly automated, with a fresh wallet appearing every 25 seconds on average.

The hackers also exchanged stolen stablecoins for cryptocurrencies whose issuers cannot freeze them, including ether. Elliptic put those conversions at roughly $786 million before Tether and Circle froze the remaining assets.

Elliptic identified bitcoin mixing as well: by early Monday, November 2, about 28 bitcoin, valued at $2.2 million, had moved through 18 mixing transactions. The firm said most activity involved cryptocurrency transfers or conversions rather than cashing out into spendable funds.

Binance’s response to the laundering of its stolen funds includes cooperation with law enforcement, blockchain analytics firms and stablecoin issuers. A spokesperson said those efforts focus on tracing the assets and securing freezes.

Article produced with the assistance of artificial intelligence and reviewed by the editorial team.

Amelia Tomasicchio

As expert in digital marketing, Amelia began working in the fintech sector in 2014 after writing her thesis on Bitcoin technology. Previously author for several international crypto-related magazines and CMO at Eidoo. She is now the co-founder of The Cryptonomist. She is also a marketing teacher at Digital Coach in Milan and she published a book about NFTs for the Italian publishing house Mondadori, while she is also helping artists and company to entering in the sector. As advisor, Amelia is also involved in metaverse-related project such as The Nemesis and OVER.