Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has raised his estimate of a suspected cryptocurrency theft involving a French bank to more than $133 million after tracing an additional $27 million in exchange withdrawals.
The investigator said the suspected major Western European financial institution, the French banking group, Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, was compromised, although the victim’s identity and allegations of a cover-up remain unverified.
Key developments:
$133M+ suspected stolen: Up from the initial estimate of $106 million reported earlier.
$27M in additional withdrawals: Some transactions occurred after ZachXBT’s initial disclosure.
$62.98M converted into ETH: Blockchain analytics firm Bitquery traced the conversion of stablecoins into 27,553 Ether within roughly four hours.
Exchange response: Kraken restricted accounts linked to the suspected theft and is working with law enforcement. Crypto.com said it had blocked associated funds while OKX said it was investigating.
Limited recovery prospects: ZachXBT said more than $30 million had been laundered while Bitquery reported that only $3.74 million remained in USDC that Circle could potentially freeze.
The suspected attacker reportedly moved funds through instant exchanges, cross-chain bridges, and privacy-focused cryptocurrency, Monero.
CASE STUDY | Hackers of a Leading European Fintech Demand Ransom via Untreacable Crypto Token
ZachXBT said the laundering patterns did not match those typically associated with North Korea’s Lazarus Group.
The latest theft come amidst multiple crypto thefts recently including the largest crypto hack in history on Binance which saw over $6 billion stolen.
MILESTONE | Binance Gets Hacked in the Largest Crypto Exploit in History
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