According to onchain sleuth ZachXBT and data from Arkham, the hackers who siphoned $290 million through a KelpDAO exploit are now attempting to launder their stolen assets. On Tuesday morning in Europe, the wallet linked to the hack executed two significant Ethereum transfers: one for $117 million and another for $58 million.
ZachXBT disclosed that some of the funds have already been transferred across blockchains. Specifically, about $1.5 million was moved from Ethereum to Bitcoin via Thorchain, with an additional $78,000 routed through Umbra, a privacy protocol previously utilized by North Korea’s Lazarus Group for laundering operations.
These tactics are indicative of the ‘layering’ phase in money laundering, hinting that the attacker may be preparing to further distribute the funds across various platforms. The KelpDAO breach is recognized as one of the most significant decentralized finance heists in recent times, triggering widespread negative sentiment and raising concerns about potential contagion effects on other blockchains.
In response, Arbitrum, a Layer 2 network, announced Monday that it had frozen $71 million worth of ether associated with the hack. This action might compel the hacker to hasten their attempts to move and launder any remaining assets.