According to ZachXBT, a blockchain analyst, 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 business hours, the wallet controlling the stolen assets executed two transactions on the Ethereum blockchain, valued at $117 million and $58 million, as reported by Arkham. Furthermore, ZachXBT discovered that a portion of the stolen cryptocurrency has been transferred across different blockchains, with approximately $1.5 million being bridged from Ethereum to Bitcoin via Thorchain, in addition to $78,000 routed through the Umbra privacy protocol. Notably, the Lazarus Group, a North Korean hacking collective, has previously utilized protocols like Thorchain for laundering purposes.
The employment of cross-chain transactions and privacy tools is indicative of the 'layering' phase of money laundering, suggesting that the attacker is 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, prompting widespread negative sentiment and concerns about potential contagion effects on other blockchains. In response to the hack, Arbitrum, a Layer 2 network, announced the freezing of $71 million in ether linked to the breach, which may pressure the perpetrator to expedite the movement and laundering of the remaining funds.