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 indicates 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.
Furthermore, ZachXBT has reported that a portion of the stolen cryptocurrency has started to be transferred across different blockchains, with roughly $1.5 million being bridged from Ethereum to Bitcoin via Thorchain, and an additional $78,000 being routed through the Umbra privacy protocol. Notably, North Korean hacking group Lazarus has previously employed similar protocols, such as Thorchain, for laundering purposes.
The use of cross-chain transfers and privacy tools at this stage suggests that the attacker may be 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, triggering a wave of negative sentiment and concerns about potential contagion across other blockchains. In response to the hack, Layer 2 network Arbitrum has frozen approximately $71 million in ether linked to the breach, potentially prompting the exploiter to accelerate their efforts to move and launder the remaining funds.