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 process of laundering their illicitly obtained funds. Arkham's data indicates that the wallet controlling the exploit's proceeds made 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 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. 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 multiple platforms. The KelpDAO breach is one of the most significant decentralized finance hacks in recent months, prompting widespread negative sentiment and concerns about potential contagion within the DeFi sector. In response to the breach, Layer 2 network Arbitrum has frozen $71 million in ether linked to the hack, a move that may pressure the perpetrator to accelerate their efforts to move and launder the remaining funds.