Millions in Stolen Cryptocurrency Being 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 stolen funds. Arkham's data indicates that the wallet controlling the exploit's proceeds executed two significant transactions on the Ethereum blockchain on Tuesday, totaling $117 million and $58 million. ZachXBT has reported that a portion of the stolen cryptocurrency is being moved across different chains, 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 movement and use of privacy tools are characteristic of the initial 'layering' phase of money laundering, suggesting that the attacker may be preparing to further distribute the funds across various platforms. The KelpDAO breach is one of the most substantial decentralized finance hacks in recent months, prompting widespread negative sentiment and fears of contagion spreading to other blockchains. In response to the hack, Arbitrum, a Layer 2 network, has frozen $71 million in ether linked to the incident, potentially pressuring the exploiter to expedite the movement and laundering of the remaining funds.