Hackers swap $50M in stolen XRP via THORChain, BTC conversions hit 1,650: Elliptic
In brief
- Elliptic says hackers swapped about $50M of stolen XRP, mostly via THORChain.
- Stolen assets converted into Bitcoin total 1,650 BTC, per the report.
- Stolen ETH and BTC main holdings remain untouched, Elliptic said.
- Crypto Briefing ties the swaps to a reported 233M XRP theft from Binance.
What Elliptic tracked
Elliptic's numbers are narrow and specific. Hackers swapped roughly $50 million worth of stolen XRP, and THORChain handled most of that flow, according to the firm's report as relayed by Crypto Briefing.
So what has actually moved?
The stolen assets converted into Bitcoin now total 1,650 BTC, per the same report. It doesn't cover the whole haul, though (not even close). Elliptic said the main holdings of stolen Ethereum and Bitcoin remain untouched, which means the activity it flagged is the XRP leg, with the core ETH and BTC holdings still sitting where they were.
The reported Binance link
Crypto Briefing described the swaps as part of a larger incident involving the theft of 233 million XRP from Binance. The outlet also said the FBI linked that theft to North Korean state hackers. It didn't quote or cite an FBI statement directly, and it gave no further detail on the Binance incident, so we're treating both points as Crypto Briefing's account rather than established fact.
Assets issuers can't freeze
The outlet framed the conversion activity as part of the hackers' ongoing efforts to move stolen assets that can't be frozen by their issuers. That's Crypto Briefing's read of the activity. It isn't a finding the outlet attributed to Elliptic, and Elliptic's figures, as cited, don't say anything about the hackers' next steps.
For now, the trackable numbers come from Elliptic: about $50 million in stolen XRP swapped, a cumulative 1,650 BTC of stolen assets converted into Bitcoin so far, and the main stolen ETH and BTC holdings still untouched.
