Millions in Stolen Cryptocurrency Being Laundered by KelpDAO Hackers

Following the $290 million KelpDAO heist, the perpetrators have initiated the laundering process of their illicit proceeds, as revealed by blockchain analyst ZachXBT and data from Arkham. On Tuesday, during European hours, the wallet controlling the exploit's proceeds made two significant transfers on the Ethereum blockchain, totaling $117 million and $58 million. According to ZachXBT, a portion of the stolen funds has already been 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 - a tactic previously employed by North Korean hacking group Lazarus. The use of cross-chain routing and privacy tools in the initial 'layering' phase of money laundering suggests 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 across the DeFi sector. In response to the hack, Layer 2 network Arbitrum froze $71 million in ether linked to the hack, potentially pressuring the exploiter to expedite the movement and laundering of the remaining funds.