Millions in Stolen Cryptocurrency Being Laundered by KelpDAO Hackers

According to on-chain analyst ZachXBT and data from Arkham, the hackers responsible for 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 funds has started to be transferred across different blockchains. Approximately $1.5 million was moved from Ethereum to Bitcoin via Thorchain, while an additional $78,000 was routed through the Umbra privacy protocol. The use of cross-chain transfers and privacy tools is a common practice in the initial 'layering' phase of money laundering, suggesting 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. On Monday, Layer 2 network Arbitrum announced that it had frozen $71 million in ether linked to the hack, a move that may pressure the exploiter to accelerate their efforts to move and launder the remaining funds.