Millions in Stolen Cryptocurrency 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. 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 has reported that a portion of the stolen cryptocurrency is being transferred across different chains, with approximately $1.5 million being bridged from Ethereum to Bitcoin via Thorchain, and an additional $78,000 routed through the Umbra privacy protocol. Notably, the North Korean hacking group Lazarus has previously utilized protocols like Thorchain for laundering purposes. The use of cross-chain routing and privacy tools in the early stages of laundering suggests that the attacker is likely preparing to further distribute the funds across multiple platforms. The KelpDAO exploit is one of the most significant breaches in the decentralized finance sector in recent months, prompting a wave of negative sentiment and concerns over 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, potentially pressuring the exploiter to accelerate their efforts to move and launder the remaining funds.