Millions in Stolen Cryptocurrency Laundered by KelpDAO Hackers, Data Reveals

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 proceeds made two transactions on the Ethereum blockchain, totaling $117 million and $58 million. ZachXBT noted that a portion of the stolen cryptocurrency has started to be 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. This cross-chain transfer and use of privacy tools are characteristic of the initial 'layering' phase of money laundering, indicating that the attacker may be preparing to further distribute the funds across various platforms. The KelpDAO breach is one of the most significant DeFi security incidents in recent months, triggering a wave of negative sentiment and fears of potential contagion across the DeFi sector. On Monday, Layer 2 network Arbitrum announced that it had frozen $71 million in ether linked to the hack, a move that could prompt the exploiter to expedite efforts to transfer and launder the remaining funds.