Millions in Stolen Cryptocurrency Being Laundered by KelpDAO Hackers

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 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 has reported that a portion of the stolen cryptocurrency has started to be transferred 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. The use of cross-chain transfers and privacy tools at this stage suggests that the attacker is likely preparing to disperse the funds further across multiple platforms. The KelpDAO breach is one of the most significant DeFi security incidents in recent months, triggering widespread negative sentiment and fears of potential contagion across the DeFi sector. In response to the hack, the layer 2 network Arbitrum has frozen $71 million in ether linked to the breach, potentially pressuring the exploiter to expedite the movement and laundering of the remaining funds.