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 illicitly obtained 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 revealed that a portion of the stolen cryptocurrency is being moved across different blockchains, with approximately $1.5 million being transferred from Ethereum to Bitcoin via Thorchain, and an additional $78,000 routed through the Umbra privacy protocol - a tactic previously employed by North Korean hacking group Lazarus. The use of cross-chain transactions and privacy tools is indicative of the initial 'layering' phase of money laundering, suggesting that the attacker is preparing to further distribute the funds across multiple platforms. The KelpDAO breach is one of the most substantial DeFi security incidents in recent months, triggering a wave of negative sentiment and contagion fears within the DeFi sector. In response to the hack, Layer 2 network Arbitrum has frozen $71 million in ether linked to the incident, potentially pressuring the exploiter to expedite the movement and laundering of the remaining funds.