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 stolen funds. Arkham's data indicates that the wallet controlling the exploit's proceeds made two significant transfers, totaling $117 million and $58 million, on the Ethereum blockchain during European hours on Tuesday. ZachXBT has reported that a portion of the stolen cryptocurrency is being moved across different chains, with approximately $1.5 million being transferred 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, commonly employed in the initial 'layering' phase of money laundering, suggests 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, contributing to a wave of negative sentiment across the DeFi sector and raising concerns about potential contagion effects on other blockchains. In a related development, Layer 2 network Arbitrum announced on Monday that it had frozen $71 million in ether linked to the hack, a move that may pressure the exploiter to accelerate their efforts to move and launder the remaining funds.