The hacker who stole $285 million from Drift Protocol, Solana's largest perpetual exchange, last April has broken a three-month silence and begun moving again.

On-chain data indicates that over two days starting July 23, the hacker transferred 23,095 ETH, worth approximately $44.4 million, to Tornado Cash. The funds were split into 100 ETH increments via an automated process and transferred rapidly. A small amount of 0.85 ETH was also sent to a Bybit deposit address, raising speculation that it may be a test transaction related to a bounty program.

Prominent on-chain analyst ZachXBT stated that since this hack is suspected to be the work of state-sponsored actors like North Korea's Lazarus Group, he will not pursue further tracking as it consumes too many resources. The attacker's wallet still holds over $200 million in stolen assets.

As such a massive volume of funds begins to be mixed through Tornado Cash, regulatory pressure on privacy protocols may intensify once again. It remains necessary to monitor how the hacker will launder the remaining large sums and how major exchanges will block further outflow channels.

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