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 controlling wallet of the exploit proceeds made two significant transfers on the Ethereum blockchain, totaling $117 million and $58 million.
ZachXBT has reported that a portion of the stolen cryptocurrency has started to be moved across different chains, with approximately $1.5 million being transferred from Ethereum to Bitcoin via Thorchain, in addition to $78,000 routed through the Umbra privacy protocol. Notably, North Korean hacking group Lazarus has previously utilized protocols like Thorchain for laundering purposes.
The employment of cross-chain routing and privacy tools at this stage suggests that the attacker is likely preparing to further distribute the funds across multiple platforms. The KelpDAO breach is one of the most substantial decentralized finance security breaches in recent months, triggering widespread negative sentiment and concerns about potential contagion across the DeFi sector. In response to the hack, Layer 2 network Arbitrum announced the freezing of $71 million in ether linked to the breach, a move that may pressure the exploiter to accelerate their efforts to move and launder the remaining funds.