Summary
- About $1.5 million in KelpDAO hack funds was moved to the Bitcoin network through Thorchain.
- The hacker continued laundering funds and making cross-chain transfers through Tornado Cash and Umbra.
- The incident led to the theft of about 116,500 rsETH, equal to roughly 18%% of total circulating supply, prompting some DeFi protocols to temporarily suspend rsETH markets.
Forecast Trend Report by Period
Some of the funds stolen in the KelpDAO hack have been traced to the Bitcoin network through cross-chain transfers, suggesting the laundering and dispersal of assets is continuing.
Crypto outlet Odaily reported on April 21 that on-chain investigator ZachXBT said funds tied to the KelpDAO exploit had begun moving. About $1.5 million was transferred from the Ethereum mainnet to the Bitcoin network through Thorchain, while roughly $78,000 was sent via Umbra.
The funds initially passed through Tornado Cash before being split across multiple routes, the report said. Additional laundering and cross-chain transfers are still underway.
The incident is linked to a major hack at KelpDAO that previously resulted in about $292 million in losses. The attacker is known to have stolen about 116,500 restaked Ether, or rsETH, through a cross-chain bridge.
That amounts to about 18% of total circulating supply, a scale seen as large enough to affect the structure of key collateral assets in decentralized finance. Some DeFi protocols have already temporarily suspended rsETH-related markets in response.
Minseung Kang
minriver@bloomingbit.ioBlockchain journalist | Writer of Trade Now & Altcoin Now, must-read content for investors.
