EigenPhi has reported that BNB Chain has suffered a flash loan attack, marking profits for the malicious actors worth $1.57 million. The attack was specifically conducted on Pancakeswap BH/USDT. The attack has now been tagged as a premeditated price manipulation attack on BH.
It has also been reported that the entire sum is being transferred to Tornado Cash. While profits have been lost, it has simultaneously underlined the manner and seriousness of attacks that decentralized finance protocols come across. Thereby, signaling a dire need to have proper security measures in place.
Having said that, reports are surfacing with claims that the usage of Tornado Cash has dropped 90% since the US started imposing sanctions on the platform. Sanctions date back to August 2022, but it is only now that the dip has made a significant value addition to them. Tornado Cash basically enables users to exchange their tokens with a mask on their wallet addresses.
The US has imposed sanctions on Tornado Cash for facilitating the movement of funds that are suspected to belong to criminals who only wanted to undertake money laundering via TC. Interestingly, the services of Tornado Cash are legal in many regions; however, it is the way some bad actors use the platform that has brought it under the radar of the relevant authorities in the US.
Its usage has also dropped because the entire crypto industry is under the grip of regulations and pressure to curb illicit activities.
Cryptocurrencies are under a lot of pressure, with the most recent incident being reported, claiming that Hamas militants leveraged cryptocurrencies to raise millions for an Israel attack. Currency wallets reportedly received $93 million between August 2021 and June 2023. These wallets have been linked to PIJ. Those associated with Hamas militants received approximately $41 million during the same window.
Needless to say, this has raised questions about how cryptocurrencies are helping raise funds for such terrorist organizations.
The UK is on alert over crypto ventures operating in the region without legitimate recognition from authorities. The FCA, or Financial Conduct Authority, has issued a warning, saying that at least 143 cryptographic entities are working in the country without necessary permissions. This includes two of the biggest names the community can imagine: KuCoin and HTX.
The authority has urged the citizens not to deal with them, even though they put forward an enticing deal for them.
Circling back to the MEV Bot making profits through a flash loan attack, the effect is tangible on BNB, with the token slipping down by 1.10% in the last 24 hours to $204.25. This is also a fall of 3.78% in the last 5 days. ETH and BTC are below their resistance points, with less chance of completing this year on an optimistic note.