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. On Tuesday, during European hours, the wallet controlling the exploit's proceeds made two transactions on the Ethereum blockchain, totaling $117 million and $58 million. ZachXBT revealed that a portion of the stolen funds is being transferred across different blockchains, with approximately $1.5 million being bridged 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 DeFi incidents in recent months, triggering a wave of negative sentiment and concerns of contagion throughout the DeFi sector. On Monday, Layer 2 network Arbitrum announced that it had frozen $71 million in ether linked to the hack, potentially pressuring the exploiter to expedite the movement and laundering of the remaining funds.