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 stolen funds. On Tuesday, during European hours, the wallet controlling the exploit proceeds made two significant transfers on the Ethereum blockchain, totaling $117 million and $58 million. ZachXBT has reported that a portion of these illicit funds is being moved 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 Korea's Lazarus Group. The use of cross-chain transfers and privacy tools in the early stages of laundering suggests that the attacker is preparing to further distribute the funds across multiple platforms. The KelpDAO breach is one of the most significant in the decentralized finance sector in recent months, triggering a wave of negative sentiment and fears of potential contagion across other blockchains. In response to the hack, Arbitrum, a Layer 2 network, has frozen $71 million in ether linked to the breach, a move that may pressure the exploiter to expedite the transfer and laundering of the remaining funds.