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 process of laundering 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 begun to be 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. Notably, North Korean hacking group Lazarus has previously employed similar protocols, such as Thorchain, for laundering funds. The use of cross-chain routing and privacy tools is typically associated with the initial 'layering' phase of money laundering, suggesting that the attacker may be preparing to further disperse the funds across multiple platforms. The KelpDAO breach is one of the most significant decentralized finance attacks in recent months, triggering a wave of negative sentiment across the DeFi sector and fueling concerns that contagion may spread to other blockchains. In response to the hack, Layer 2 network Arbitrum announced that it had frozen $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.