The governance token-holders of Tornado Cash will soon be regaining control over the operations of the protocol, which is largely due to an unexpected proposal that was put forward by the attacker. This development would be allowing the community to regain authority, as well as steer the protocol towards recovery and improved security measures. On 26th May, the proposal to restore control to the original governance stakeholders of the cryptocurrency passed successfully. A total of 517,000 token votes did favor the proposal, with no one opposing it. This resolution further brings in a swift conclusion to the governance takeover that did not impact the protocol by itself, but it did lead to the theft of specific governance tokens.
Tornado Cash Governance Control Has Been Set
Through a successful orchestration of a takeover of the protocol’s governance system, the attacker managed to maneuver a malicious proposal that would grant them 1.2 million votes. Utilizing this significant voting power, they further passed additional proposals, ultimately seizing control over previously vested governance tokens. The tactics further allowed them to manipulate the structure of governance, resulting in a transfer of authority in their favor. In a major turn of events, the attacker did contact the community of Tornado Cash, where they presented a proposal that was aimed at restoring the control of governance.
As mentioned by Martin Lee, a data journalist from Nansen, a crypto analytics site, the attacker was capable of stealing 483,000 Tornado Cash tokens. Subsequently, they conducted a whole series of swaps, wherein they converted the vast majority of the stolen tokens into 485 Ether, which had an approximate worth of $890,000. This strategic maneuver left them with 39,000 TORN, valued at around $160,000.
