Millions in Stolen Cryptocurrency Being Laundered by KelpDAO Hackers

According to ZachXBT, a blockchain investigator, and data from Arkham, the perpetrators of the $290 million KelpDAO heist have initiated the laundering process of their stolen funds. On Tuesday, during European trading hours, the wallet controlling the exploit proceeds made two significant transfers on the Ethereum blockchain, totaling $117 million and $58 million. Furthermore, ZachXBT discovered that a portion of the stolen funds has been moved 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. This cross-chain movement and use of privacy tools are indicative of the 'layering' stage in money laundering, suggesting that the attacker is preparing to disperse the funds further. The KelpDAO breach is one of the most substantial DeFi hacks in recent months, triggering 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 exploiter to expedite the movement and laundering of the remaining funds.