LuBian's Lost Billions: A Bitcoin Heist Under the Radar

Arkham Intelligence has dropped a bombshell report, revealing a potential massive Bitcoin theft from the LuBian mining pool that may have gone unnoticed for almost half a decade. The alleged hack, dating back to December 2020, involved a staggering 127,426 BTC, valued at $3.5 billion at the time.

Key Findings

• The Scale: The reported theft dwarfs previous high-profile crypto exploits like Mt. Gox and Bitfinex.
• The Timeline: The majority of the funds were reportedly drained from LuBian on December 28, 2020.
• The Communication: LuBian allegedly attempted to contact the thief via OP_RETURN messages embedded in the Bitcoin blockchain.
• The Dormancy: The stolen Bitcoin has remained largely inactive since the theft, with only wallet consolidation occurring in July 2024.
• The Potential Cause: A flawed private key generation algorithm may have made LuBian vulnerable to attack.

The Details

On December 28, 2020, Arkham's analysis indicates that over 90% of LuBian's Bitcoin holdings vanished. Further complicating matters, another theft of roughly $6 million in BTC and USDT occurred shortly after, stemming from a LuBian address using the Bitcoin Omni layer. LuBian subsequently moved its remaining holdings into recovery wallets by the end of 2020. The mining pool even tried contacting the hacker via Bitcoin transactions with embedded messages, indicating a genuine effort to recover the lost funds. Arkham suggests that a weak private key generation algorithm at LuBian may have been the root cause of this massive vulnerability.

Impact and Implications

Considering Bitcoin's price surge since 2020, the stolen funds are now estimated to be worth a staggering $14.5 billion. This makes the suspected hacker's wallet the 13th largest Bitcoin holder tracked by Arkham, surpassing the holdings associated with the infamous Mt. Gox breach.

Key Takeaways:

• A potential $3.5 billion Bitcoin theft from LuBian mining pool occurred in late 2020.
• The theft remained undetected for nearly five years.
• Arkham Intelligence uncovered the evidence through on-chain analysis.
• The stolen BTC is now worth an estimated $14.5 billion.
• The vulnerability might stem from a flawed private key generation algorithm.

Both the hacker and LuBian still appear to control their respective Bitcoin balances, according to Arkham. The identities of those involved remain a mystery. Wallet trackers for both parties are available from Arkham.