- An attacker connected to a recent Coinbase data breach publicly mocked crypto investigator ZachXBT via an Ethereum transaction.
- The Hacker has moved $42.5 million from Bitcoin to Ethereum using a swapping protocol called THORChain.
- An on-chain message contained insults and a link to a meme YouTube video featuring NBA player James Worthy.
- Coinbase confirmed a data breach affecting at least 69,400 accounts and rejected a $20 million ransom demand, instead offering a bounty for information.
- The company faces up to $400 million in potential costs due to incident response and customer compensation.
An unknown attacker involved in a recent breach targeting Coinbase account holders has used the Ethereum blockchain to publicly mock on-chain researcher ZachXBT. The incident happened after ZachXBT exposed details about the group responsible for several thefts affecting platform users.
The threat actor conducted a blockchain transaction, using its input data message feature, to send the phrase “L bozo” and a link to a meme YouTube video showing NBA legend James Worthy smoking a cigar. According to ZachXBT, the hacker swapped approximately $42.5 million from Bitcoin to Ethereum through THORChain, a service that allows users to exchange cryptocurrencies across blockchains.
On-chain records from Etherscan show the hacker also moved an additional 8,698 ETH (about $22.6 million) not long after the taunting messages. Coinbase recently disclosed that more than 69,400 users had their data exposed in a violation discovered in May and attributed to an incident dating back to December of the previous year, as detailed in a filing with the Maine Attorney General’s office.
Following the disclosure, the attackers demanded a ransom of $20 million in Bitcoin to withhold releasing the stolen data. Coinbase refused and instead offered the same sum as a bounty for information leading to the responsible party, as seen in their official statement.
The financial impact for Coinbase could range from $180 million to $400 million, covering remediation and compensation efforts.
ZachXBT is known for investigating cryptocurrency scams and hacks. In 2023, he received major support from the crypto community after facing a defamation lawsuit. Earlier this year, crypto investment firm Paradigm hired him as an incident response advisor.
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