Following the theft of $290 million in the KelpDAO exploit, the perpetrators have started to launder their stolen funds, as revealed by on-chain analyst ZachXBT and data from Arkham. According to Arkham, the wallet controlling the exploit proceeds made two transactions worth $117 million and $58 million on the Ethereum blockchain during European hours on Tuesday. ZachXBT noted that a portion of the stolen funds has been moved across chains, 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 method previously used by North Korean hacking group Lazarus.
The use of cross-chain routing and privacy tools suggests the attacker is in the initial 'layering' phase of laundering, indicating potential plans to further distribute the funds across multiple platforms. The KelpDAO breach is one of the most significant DeFi incidents in recent months, sparking negative sentiment and fears of contagion spreading to other blockchains. In response, Layer 2 network Arbitrum has frozen $71 million in ether linked to the hack, which may pressure the exploiter to accelerate their efforts to move and launder the remaining funds.