The hackers who stole $290 million in the KelpDAO exploit are beginning to launder their ill-gotten gains, according to chain sleuth ZachXBT and Arkham data.
Arkham shows that the wallet controlling the proceeds of the exploit sent two transfers of $117 million and $58 million on the Ethereum blockchain during European time on Tuesday.
ZachXBT reported that a portion of the stolen funds has already begun moving across the chains. Approximately $1.5 million was transferred from Ethereum to Bitcoin via Thorchain, along with an additional $78,000 via the Umbra privacy protocol. North Korean hackers Lazarus Group have previously used protocols like Thorchain to launder funds.
Cross-chain routing and privacy tools are commonly used in the initial “layering” stage of laundering, suggesting that the attacker may be preparing to further disperse funds across multiple locations.
The KelpDAO exploit is one of the largest decentralized finance breaches in recent months, sparking a wave of negative sentiment across the DeFi sector and fears of contagion spreading to other blockchains.
Layer 2 network Arbitrum said on Monday it had frozen $71 million in ether linked to the hack, a move that could pressure the exploiter to accelerate efforts to move and launder the remaining funds.
