Millions in Stolen Cryptocurrency Being Laundered by KelpDAO Hackers

According to ZachXBT and data from Arkham, the perpetrators of the $290 million KelpDAO heist have initiated the laundering process of their illicitly obtained funds. Arkham's data reveals that the wallet controlling the exploit's proceeds made two transactions, valued at $117 million and $58 million, on the Ethereum blockchain during European hours on Tuesday. ZachXBT reported that a portion of the stolen cryptocurrency has been transferred across chains, 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 routing and privacy tools, as seen in this instance, is characteristic of the 'layering' stage in money laundering, suggesting that the attacker may be preparing to disperse the funds further across multiple platforms. The KelpDAO breach is one of the most significant decentralized finance hacks in recent months, contributing to a wave of negative sentiment and contagion fears within the DeFi sector. In response to the hack, Layer 2 network Arbitrum announced that it had frozen $71 million in ether linked to the breach, potentially pressuring the exploiter to expedite the movement and laundering of the remaining funds.