Over half a billion in crypto loot laundered via Tornado Cash in 2024: report

More than 60% of ETH deposits to Tornado Cash in 2024 came from high-risk sources, including accounts linked to major crypto attacks.

More than $552 million in stolen cryptocurrencies were laundered through cryptocurrency mixing service Tornado Cash between January 1 and November 27, according to a Global Ledger report shared with Crypto.news.

Tornado Cash received a total of 457,768 ETH during this period, worth approximately $1.64 billion at current prices. The majority of these funds came from high-risk sources, with more than 56% of the total amount linked to crypto attacks occurring in 2023 and 2024.

This is a noticeable jump from 2023, when Tornado Cash processed 314,740 ETH withdrawals.

The WazirX hack in July resulted in the largest contribution this year, with the attacker transferring 61,698 ETH worth approximately $217.2 million through the mixing service.

Funds from the Heco Bridge hack ranked second, with 52,281 ETH ($189.1 million) laundered. The hack first surfaced in 2023, but the attacker laundered the funds in March of this year.

Similarly, the hackers behind the Poloniex breach transferred 18,874 ETH ($68.4 million) via Tornado Cash. Meanwhile, 12,930 ETH ($46.8 million) came from the Orbit Chain exploit.

Finally, the Penpie attack added 11,261 ETH worth $40.8 million to the mixer’s illegal transactions.

Tornado Cash was approved by the US Treasury in 2022 for its role in facilitating money laundering. The regulator claimed that since 2019 the service had processed over $7 billion in illicit funds; this includes $455 million linked to the Lazarus Group in North Korea.

A US Court recently ruled that the Treasury overstepped its authority by sanctioning some of Tornado Cash’s immutable smart contracts.

The Global Ledger report warned that this decision would create a “dangerous precedent” that could hinder global efforts to combat financial crime in the crypto space, noting that “bad actors could launder larger amounts of cryptocurrency” as regulators face challenges enforcing compliance.

The decision could also erode investors’ confidence and prompt regulators to impose stricter rules, which “could mean legitimate businesses face greater scrutiny and stricter reporting requirements,” the report said.