At least 50% of the stolen funds were withdrawn within 112 days, 75% — within 168 days.

The report also says that Alfa is supposedly “a huge, tightly controlled organization that is at least partly guided by intangible motivation.”

“Beta” is much smaller than “Alpha”, it is not so rigidly organized and in its activities is guided mainly by monetary motives. Both organizations, the researchers note, have not yet been identified, but, in all likelihood, continue their activities.

As noted, until today, exchanges and law enforcement agencies have limited capabilities in terms of tracking stolen cryptocurrencies. Moreover, exchanges regularly process transactions involving these funds, allowing hackers to convert them into fiat or other cryptocurrencies. So, in the course of its research, Chainalysis studied in detail four cases of hacking exchanges, finding that at least $135 million was withdrawn through well-known trading platforms. According to analysts, this is partly because for exchanges these funds look like they came from legitimate owners, and it can be very difficult to determine the origin of the cryptocurrency without specialized software.

According to Chainalysis, knowing how hackers move funds and studying their strategies can make it possible to identify unusual spikes in transactions and help in catching criminals. Cooperation between industry representatives and law enforcement agencies can also provide better protection against new attacks