Two brothers were arrested in the United States for allegedly stealing USD 25 million worth of cryptocurrency. Interestingly, the two men were able to pull off the heist in a matter of seconds, using a completely new manipulation method to crack Ethereum blockchain.
Anton Peraire-Bueno and James Peraire-Bueno, the two men, are math and computer science students at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), and used the knowledge they gained in college to break into the Ethereum blockchain, and steal cryptocurrency from it.
“But unfortunately their crimes could not defeat Department of Justice prosecutors and IRS agents, who were able to uncover this new type of fraud and money laundering scheme,” said Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco.
The two brothers’ actions may have taken seconds to execute, but they spent months planning them. The attack was first planned since December 2022, and was divided into four stages: The Bait, Unblinding the Block, The Search, and The Propagation.
There were three crypto traders they targeted and their behavior was studied for months before the action was carried out. They also made a number of test transactions to lure the bots used by these traders.
The loophole exploited by the Peraire-Bueno brothers has now been patched. The loophole in question means that they can access pending transactions and use that access to change certain transactions and steal cryptocurrency belonging to their victims.
After successfully stealing USD 25 million worth of crypto, they laundered the money through a number of shell companies. Their browser search history also revealed that they were looking for top crypto lawyers, as well as some explanation of the statute of limitations for their offenses.
It was also revealed that one of the victims and his lawyer contacted the Peraire-Bueno brothers several times between April and June 2023, as well as representatives from Ethereum.
If convicted, the brothers face up to three years in prison for each count (of the three offenses) proven.
