Crypto analyst WazzCrypto reported on X that over 500 dormant wallets on Ethereum mainnet — untouched for 4 to 14 years — were emptied by a single address within 24 hours, losing approximately 324.741 ETH (~$800,000). The stolen funds were bridged via ThorChain into wrapped assets, converted into 9.56 BTC, and partially moved into Monero for privacy. One linked address still holds about $32,000 in ETH.
Manual Operation vs. Automated Script
WazzCrypto noted that some wallets were not fully drained, with small leftover amounts still inside. “That doesn’t look like automation; it feels like someone manually operated this whole batch.” On-chain researcher @tayvano is also tracking the flow. Aragon team member @TheTakenUser confirmed his own wallet was drained under mysterious circumstances.
The attacker targeted only old wallets — the oldest had seen no transactions for 14 years. The community quickly floated the idea of AI brute-forcing private keys, but mathematically that’s unlikely. The attacker is exploiting already-leaked keys, not cracking new ones.
Old Seed Phrase Leaks Likely Responsible
Community analysis points to leaked seed phrases from 2017–2020, with the 2022 LastPass breach as a prime candidate. That hack exposed encrypted vault backups of ~30 million users. Weak master passwords are being cracked one by one. TRM Labs traced at least $35 million in stolen crypto to the breach, with funds flowing to Russian crime groups.
Other possible sources include compromised Electrum versions, npm supply-chain attacks, and trading bots that asked users to paste private keys.
Timing: ETH Surged Over 30% Before the Attack
The timing is telling. ETH rallied more than 30% from its April lows, making dormant assets suddenly worth cashing out. The attacker likely had the key list for months and waited for the price bump to maximize profits.
Related incidents previously reported: an Ethereum developer lost funds after installing a malicious AI plugin; a MediaTek chip vulnerability allowed seed phrase theft in 45 seconds on Android devices; and researchers are making progress using AI+GPU+algorithms to recover lost private keys.