Nomad Bridge Hacker Leverages Ethereum’s 33% Crash, Buys the Dip

• Ethereum suffered a rocky crash over the weekend.
• Malicious actors are seizing the opportunity to expand their portfolio.
• The broader crypto market is experiencing a downturn.

The past weekend was one of major losses for the crypto industry, as an unexpected crash tumbled several assets to new lows. Among the hardest hit is the second largest crypto asset, Ethereum (ETH) , which fell a sharp 33% within a brief period.

While the broader market reels from the losses incurred, an interesting group is leveraging the crash to gobble assets.

Ethereum Crashes 

The recent three-day crash in the crypto market significantly impacted Ethereum, plunging the asset from a trading level of $3100 to $2100. According to on-chain analytics platform Lookonchain, the substantial price decline was seen as a buying opportunity by the Nomad Bridge Exploiter, who spent 39.75 million $DAI to buy 16,892 ETH. 

The Nomad Bridge Exploiter was responsible for the August 2022 cyberattack on the cross-chain protocol Nomad, which resulted in the loss of over $190 million. Lookonchain added that after the purchase of ETH, the exploiter took additional steps to obfuscate his trail, depositing the acquired assets into the anonymizing platform Tornado Cash.

At press time, the 16,892 ETH purchased is worth a total of $38.4 million at the current trading price of $2,271. The Ethereum crash also resulted in severe liquidations across the market, with over 25 addresses liquidated for 63,732 ETH, valued at approximately $150 million.

However, Ethereum was not the only asset affected by the market crash. 

Crypto Market Bloodbath

The weekend market downturn sent several other cryptocurrencies spiraling, resulting in hefty losses that left investors out of pocket.

Like ETH, Bitcoin (BTC) took a major plunge from its trading range of $62,000, breaking through support levels to crash below $49,000. Although the crypto giant has managed to rebound in the past few hours, its present trading price of $50,891 still marks a total loss of 16.4% in the past 24 hours and a staggering 30.2% decline from its all-time high of $73,000.

Bitcoin and Ethereum were not the only losers in the crash, as other assets, including Solana (SOL) , Cardano (ADA) , Binance coin (BNB), and more also suffered significant losses in response to the FUD spreading across the market. In the past 24 hours, SOL, ADA, and BNB have lost approximately 22.7%, 19.6%, and 19% respectively.

On the Flipside 

• The Nomad Bridge attack was one of the biggest crypto hacks of 2022 .
• Etherum’s current trading price is approximately 44% below its year-high value of $4,066.
• The ongoing market decline has resulted in a major setback for the newly launched U.S. Ethereum ETFs.

Why This Matters

Crypto market crashes often present opportunities for investors to acquire assets at lower prices, and the latest ETH purchase by the Nomad Bridge Exploiter suggests a strategy to capitalize on the downturn.

Discover more about the recent crypto crash and likely contributing factors:
What Caused the Crypto Crash This Weekend? Here Are the Key Factors  

Read more about the performance of Ethereum ETFs prior to the crash:
Ether ETFs Post Positive $27M Inflows After Extended Downturn