Wallets tied to the Drift Protocol exploit became active again on Oct. 20, moving a large amount of Ethereum into Tornado Cash after roughly two months without visible transfers. Blockchain analysts said the activity involved tens of thousands of ETH connected to the earlier theft from Drift, a Solana-based decentralized derivatives platform.
Lookonchain reported that 25,700 ETH, valued at about $61.56 million, was deposited into Tornado Cash over a two-hour span. The tracker also estimated that the linked wallets still held 81,864 ETH, worth roughly $195 million at the time of the update.
Fresh transfers flagged by on-chain trackers
The renewed wallet activity was identified by blockchain monitoring accounts that track major fund movements tied to hacks and exploits. According to Lookonchain, the transfers marked the end of about two months of inactivity from the wallet group associated with the Drift exploit.
A separate earlier update from Onchain Lens pointed to at least 13,400 ETH, or around $32 million, already having been sent to Tornado Cash. That post also showed a wallet snapshot indicating roughly $224.59 million in remaining assets, underscoring that a substantial balance was still under the control of addresses linked to the exploit.
What the transfers suggest, and what they do not
The latest movements represent another phase in the handling of assets taken from Drift. By sending funds into Tornado Cash, the holder of the wallets used a service designed to pool cryptocurrency deposits and later allow withdrawals through different addresses.
That process can make direct tracing more difficult on public blockchains. Even so, the deposits alone do not prove what happened next to the ETH. The transfers do not establish whether the funds were sold, converted into cash, moved to exchanges, or recovered by another party.
Drift remains the central point of the case
The wallets in question have been linked by analysts to the exploit of Drift Protocol, which operates as a decentralized derivatives platform on Solana. The Oct. 20 transfers therefore fit into a broader pattern of post-exploit fund movements rather than a standalone event.
The differing tracker updates also show why estimates can vary in fast-moving on-chain incidents. Lookonchain’s tally focused on 25,700 ETH sent over a two-hour window, while Onchain Lens had earlier identified at least 13,400 ETH moving into Tornado Cash and provided a separate estimate for the assets still visible in the wallets.
What to watch next
Based on the latest public updates, the next confirmed development will be whether additional deposits from the same wallet cluster appear on-chain or whether the remaining ETH stays in place. For now, the verifiable facts are limited to the observed transfers into Tornado Cash and the analysts’ estimates of the balances still associated with the exploit-linked addresses.
As of the reported activity, a large amount of ETH remained under wallets tied to the case, meaning further movements are likely to be closely watched by blockchain investigators and market observers.
Source: crypto.news