Millions in Stolen Cryptocurrency Are Being Laundered by KelpDAO Hackers

According to on-chain analyst ZachXBT and data from Arkham, the perpetrators of the $290 million KelpDAO heist have initiated the laundering process of their illicitly obtained funds. Arkham's data reveals that the wallet controlling the exploit's proceeds made two significant transfers, totaling $117 million and $58 million, on the Ethereum blockchain during European hours on Tuesday. ZachXBT has reported that a portion of the stolen cryptocurrency has started to be moved across different blockchains, with approximately $1.5 million being transferred from Ethereum to Bitcoin via Thorchain, and an additional $78,000 routed through the Umbra privacy protocol - a tactic previously employed by North Korean hacking group Lazarus. The use of cross-chain routing and privacy tools in the early stages of laundering suggests that the attacker is preparing to further distribute the funds across multiple platforms. The KelpDAO breach is one of the most significant decentralized finance hacks in recent months, triggering a wave of negative sentiment across the DeFi sector and raising concerns about potential contagion spreading to other blockchains. In response to the hack, Layer 2 network Arbitrum has frozen $71 million in ether linked to the breach, which may pressure the exploiter to expedite the movement and laundering of the remaining funds.