According to blockchain 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 business hours, the wallet controlling the stolen assets made two significant transfers on the Ethereum blockchain, totaling $117 million and $58 million. Furthermore, ZachXBT discovered that a portion of the stolen cryptocurrency has been moved across different blockchains, with approximately $1.5 million being transferred 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 indicative of the initial 'layering' phase of money laundering, suggesting that the attacker is preparing to further distribute the funds across multiple platforms. The KelpDAO breach is one of the most substantial DeFi security breaches in recent months, triggering a wave of negative sentiment and contagion fears within the DeFi sector. In response to the hack, Arbitrum, a Layer 2 network, has frozen $71 million in ether linked to the breach, potentially pressuring the hacker to expedite the transfer and laundering of the remaining funds.