Shibarium Bridge Hack: Millions Lost, Still No Official Action
Three months have passed since the infamous Shibarium Bridge hack siphoned over $3 million from user funds, yet the case remains stalled, failing to progress through formal law enforcement channels. This inaction has drawn sharp criticism from on-chain investigators and the wider crypto community, who argue that sufficient evidence exists for an official probe.
Tracing the Digital Footprints
Dedicated on-chain sleuths have meticulously tracked the stolen assets, revealing a clear laundering path. The attacker initially moved 260 Ether (ETH) through Tornado Cash, a coin mixer, before routing 232.49 ETH to multiple deposit addresses on the KuCoin exchange. This complex operation involved 111 wallets and 45 unique KuCoin deposits, all pieced together by community investigators. A crucial breakthrough came from a "small mistake" by the hacker – a single 0.0874 ETH transfer that linked otherwise hidden wallets, allowing a comprehensive mapping of the illicit flow. This detailed tracing work was shared with the Shiba Inu ecosystem team, providing a solid foundation for recovery efforts.
The Impasse: Lack of Official Reporting
Despite the comprehensive on-chain evidence, the recovery process faces a significant roadblock: the apparent failure of the Shiba Inu team to file a formal police report. Cryptocurrency exchanges, including KuCoin, typically require an official law enforcement case number to provide internal records or freeze suspicious accounts. Without this crucial legal step, even compelling on-chain leads remain unactionable by centralized entities. Community figures, such as Shane Cook of Pulse Digital Marketing, have publicly questioned why the Shiba Inu team has not initiated official complaints, given their prior acknowledgment of the breach and contact with security firms. This situation raises concerns within the community about the project's priorities, with some speculating that the team may be prioritizing the bridge's reopening and a repayment plan over aggressive legal pursuit of the culprits. For individual victims, the path to recourse may involve lodging local complaints in their respective countries to generate the necessary case numbers for exchanges to act.
