Hacker Turns Stolen $53M Into $102M Profit-Here’s the Method Behind the Madness

by

Ah, the sweet taste of stolen riches turned into a gargantuan fortune. Last year’s infamous Radiant Capital hack, in which $53 million vanished into thin air, has a twist of fate. The hacker responsible, quite the strategist, has now nearly doubled their ill-gotten haul, flipping the funds into a whopping $102.5 million.

Summary

  • The hacker behind the Radiant Capital attack transformed a stolen $53 million into around $102.5 million.
  • All this from a clever conversion of stolen assets into ETH and a 10-month patience test before cashing out amid the ongoing price surge.
  • The crypto world has witnessed over $3.1 billion in losses to hacks and scams so far in 2025, clearly proving that security measures are still playing catch-up.

According to a post from blockchain intelligence platform Lookonchain on August 14, the exploiter has turned $53 million into $102.5 million-an eye-watering 93.5% profit. How? By converting the stolen loot into 21,957 ETH and holding onto it with all the patience of a saint… or perhaps a master thief.

After the October 2024 heist, the hacker sat on their stolen Ethereum (ETH) for almost ten months, watching the prices rise. Then, on August 12, just as ETH was surging, they made their move-exchanging 9,631 ETH for $43.9 million in USD-pegged DAI stablecoin at a tidy average price of $4,562.

The Radiant Capital hacker turned the stolen $53M into $102.54M by trading $ETH, a profit of $49.5M(+93.5%).

10 months ago, the hacker stole $53M from Radiant Capital and swapped it all for 21,957 $ETH.

Recently, he began selling $ETH for profit, selling 9,631 $ETH($43.94M) at…

– Lookonchain (@lookonchain) August 14, 2025

The stablecoins were stashed away in a different wallet, leaving the hacker with a comfortable 12,326 ETH. As Ethereum surged to new highs, the remaining stash was worth about $58.6 million-a nice 3% bump on the day. Who knew crime could be this lucrative?

Holding onto the ETH for almost ten months was the key to raking in $49.5 million in profits. Instead of a hasty exit, the hacker opted for a methodical cash-out plan, selling off the ETH gradually. It’s almost as if they had a business strategy behind this heist.

The Radiant Capital Hack

The hack that started it all? It was nothing short of a textbook case of social engineering. In October 2024, a group of attackers impersonated a former contractor for Radiant Capital via Telegram, sending a zip file disguised as a harmless PDF. Little did the protocol know, the file contained macOS malware designed to trick developers into signing malicious smart contract calls.

The attack has been linked to AppleJeus, a North Korea-based hacking group that’s as notorious as the Lazarus group. Using the trickery of transaction resubmissions, they managed to take control of Radiant’s lending pools on Arbitrum and Binance Smart Chain, causing devastating losses.

The aftermath of this hack serves as a grim reminder of the persistent threat of cyberattacks in the industry. With over $3.1 billion lost to scams and hacks in 2025 alone, it’s evident that hackers are evolving faster than the security measures meant to protect us. But who needs a defense when the reward is this sweet?

Read More

2025-08-14 14:03