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. On Tuesday, during European hours, the wallet controlling the exploit proceeds made two transactions on the Ethereum blockchain, 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. The use of cross-chain transfers and privacy tools during the initial 'layering' phase of money laundering suggests that the attacker is preparing to further disperse the funds across multiple platforms. The KelpDAO breach is one of the most significant DeFi breaches in recent months, triggering a wave of negative sentiment and concerns about potential contagion across the DeFi sector. In response to the hack, Arbitrum, a layer 2 network, has frozen $71 million in ether linked to the breach, which may pressure the exploiter to accelerate their efforts to move and launder the remaining funds.