$42 million in pocket: How stolen funds from the GMX exchange were laundered
After assets were stolen, they were passed through decentralized exchanges and cross-chain bridges to be converted into ETH
11.07.2025
724
3 min
0
On July 9, 2025, decentralized exchange GMX lost $42 million in assets due to a vulnerability in a smart contract. GetBlock AML Research shows how the attacker laundered the stolen funds.
The reason for the hack
The attacker exploited several flaws in GMX’s smart contract at once to open large short positions and manipulate the average value of all open short positions. These actions allowed him to make significant profits by redeeming open positions.
Fund flows
After conducting the attack, the hacker transferred the stolen assets to the original address on the Arbitrum network: 0xdf3340a436c27655ba62f828281565c9925c3a5221.
|
Assets stolen from GMX |
|
|
10 548 626,3 |
Legacy Frax Dollar (FRAX) |
|
9 751 811,5 |
USDC |
|
1 343 601,9 |
USDT |
|
1 338 385,1 |
DAI |
|
187 343,4 |
USDC (bridged) |
|
65 479,2 |
UNI |
|
23 800,2 |
LINK |
|
3 205,5 |
WETH |
|
88,1734 |
WBTC |
|
Total: $42,2 million at the time of the hack |
|
The cryptocurrency was then transferred to an intermediate address: 0x99cdeb84064c2bc63de0cea7c6978e272d0f2dae, which was used to interact with decentralized exchanges (CoW Swap, Across Protocol, Stargate Finance, Mayan Finance) and cross-chain bridges to convert assets into ETH.
Converting assets to ETH using decentralized exchanges and cross-chain bridges. Visualization: MistTrack
The resulting 11 700 ETH were accumulated at the address: 0x6acc60b11217a1fd0e68b0ecaee7122d34a784c1. The hacker then distributed the coins to four new addresses:
- 0xa33fcbe3b84fb8393690d1e994b6a6adc256d8a3: 3000 ETH
- 0xe9ad5a0f2697a3cf75ffa7328bda93dbaef7f7e7: 3000 ETH
- 0x69c965e164fa60e37a851aa5cd82b13ae39c1d95: 3000 ETH
- 0x639cd2fc24ec06be64aaf94eb89392bea98a6605: 2700 ETH
Distribution of ETH to new addresses. Visualization: MistTrack
The original address (0xdf3340a436c27655ba62f8281565c9925c3a5221) still holds 10 494 796 Legacy Frax Dollar (FRAX).
Refund possible
Immediately after the hack, the GMX team approached the hacker with an offer to return 90% of the stolen assets and keep 10% as a reward. Two days later, the hacker replied that he would return the funds, but would do so “later”.
Useful material?
Telegram 
Twitter Research
One and the same cryptocurrency address received two completely opposite assessments from different analytics systems: from an ordinary gambling service to an extremely severe criminal offense. This story has become the starting point for a broader conversation about what the scientific standards of blockchain analysis should look like — and why errors in systems like these can shape the fates of real people.
Jul 1, 2026
Research
The blockchain has helped uncover the ties between cryptocurrency fundraising campaigns, exchangers in Syria, and intermediaries in several countries around the world. A telltale pattern has emerged in which the same addresses were used across multiple donation drives at once
Jun 24, 2026
Research
Four Iranian cryptocurrency exchanges accounted for roughly 78% of all digital asset volume tied to the country in 2025. They have now become the focal point of the largest U.S. sanctions campaign against Iran's cryptocurrency infrastructure.
Jun 5, 2026
Research
A financial system is already up and running on public blockchains, with loans, analogues of U.S. Treasuries, and automated capital markets. More than $551 billion has flowed through DeFi protocols — but most of that activity has nothing to do with the real economy and everything to do with the speculative build-up of risk.
May 29, 2026
Research
Around 97% of Chinese suppliers of chemicals used to make fentanyl accept payment in cryptocurrency. The volume of such transactions continues to grow alongside the global market for synthetic drugs
May 22, 2026
Research
For the first time, the new law makes blockchain analytics an officially mandatory tool of financial oversight in the United States. Authorities will also gain the power to restrict transactions with foreign crypto services tied to money-laundering risks.
May 20, 2026
Cryptocurrency rates
-
Bitcoin
$64 741
BTC
+1.41%
-
Ethereum
$1 859.17
ETH
+1.1%
-
BNB Smart Chain
$579.4
BSC
+1.23%
-
Ripple
$1.09
XRP
+0.48%
-
TRON
$0.160134
TRX
-1.59%
-
Dogecoin
$0.072479
DOGE
-0%
-
Zcash
$555.45
ZEC
+1.68%
-
Stellar XLM
$0.18707
XLM
+1.11%
-
Cardano
$0.166798
ADA
-0.38%
-
Polkadot
$3.32
DOT
+5.27%