Arkham Intelligence has revealed details of the largest crypto theft that took place in December 2020. The blockchain analytics firm reported the theft of 127,426 BTC from the Chinese mining pool LuBian, worth approximately $14.5 billion today.
What Did Arkham Intelligence Discover?
According to Arkham Intelligence, the theft of BTC worth $14.5 billion has become the largest in history at the time of occurrence. This event happened in December 2020 and went unnoticed for years, until rumors about LuBian's sudden disappearance began in early 2021.
Who or What Was LuBian?
LuBian was one of the largest mining pools, launched in April 2020. Within months, it became the sixth largest pool in the Bitcoin network. However, in early 2021, LuBian disappeared without explanation, leading to various theories about its closure or transition to a private mode.
Arkham suggests that this disappearance may be connected to a catastrophic hack that drained nearly all of its BTC reserves.
How Was the Hack Pulled Off?
Analysts believe that the attackers exploited a vulnerability in LuBian's private key generation algorithm. On December 28, 2020, the hackers allegedly stole over 90% of Bitcoin, followed by an additional $6 million in BTC and USDT the next day.
LuBian attempted to reach out to the hacker by sending messages through Bitcoin’s OP_RETURN field, but so far, none of the stolen assets have been returned.
The case of LuBian serves as a reminder that even the largest and most successful mining pools can face catastrophic consequences if they neglect key management best practices. The difficulty of recovering the stolen funds will increase with each passing day.
