03.08.2025 17:00
A massive, previously undisclosed cryptocurrency heist has been unearthed, shattering previous records as the largest crypto hack in history. Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence recently revealed that a staggering 127,000 Bitcoin, valued at a monumental $3.5 billion in December 2020, was surreptitiously siphoned from Lubian, a prominent Chinese Bitcoin mining pool. This breach, remaining undetected for over four years, dwarfs even the recent $1.5 billion Bybit incident.
The revelation casts a stark light on the vulnerability of even established players in the cryptocurrency ecosystem. Lubian, once a top-ten Bitcoin mining pool commanding nearly 6% of the global hash rate, mysteriously ceased operations in early 2021. While the crypto community initially attributed its closure to China and Iran's increasingly stringent regulations—where a significant portion of Lubian's mining infrastructure was located—Arkham's investigation exposes a far more devastating truth: a catastrophic security breach. The firm pinpoints the root cause as weaknesses in Lubian's private key generation processes.
Remarkably, Lubian remained silent about this colossal loss, choosing not to publicly acknowledge the theft. The hacker, equally discreet, never boasted about their ill-gotten gains. In a desperate, albeit futile, attempt to retrieve their stolen assets, Lubian initiated over 1,500 small Bitcoin transactions, each containing a plea for the return of the funds. Furthermore, they transferred their remaining 11,880 BTC to designated recovery wallets, highlighting the devastating scale of the hack. Despite this, the stolen Bitcoin has remained largely dormant, aside from a 2024 consolidation into a single new wallet address, leaving the hacker's intentions unclear.
Arkham's findings serve as a potent warning, raising serious concerns about the transparency and security practices prevalent within major cryptocurrency infrastructure providers. Billions of dollars in digital assets flow through these centralized entities, often operating with limited external oversight. This incident underscores the urgent need for increased transparency and robust security measures within the industry to prevent future, potentially even larger-scale, breaches.
