The intelligence company Blockchain Arkham revealed that 127,426 BTC, worth nearly $ 14.5 billion today, were discreetly stolen from the Chinese mining pool Lubian at the end of 2020. The robbery, which has been unknown to the public for almost four years, is now among the biggest crypto flights in history, according to current valuation.
In short
- Arkham Intelligence revealed that 127,426 BTC was stolen from the Chinese mining pool Lubian in December 2020, making this event one of the most important flights of cryptocurrency in terms of value.
- The striker would have exploited a flaw in the algorithm of generation of the private keys of Lubian, which would have enabled him to access it by force brute.
- Despite its magnitude, hacking has remained unknown so far. None of the stolen BTCs have been moved since July 2024, and Lubian tried to contact the pirate via OP_Preturn messages.
Mysterious disappearance explained
Lubian appeared in April 2020, presenting himself as “the safest high -performance mining pool in the world”. In a few months, he became the sixth largest Bitcoin mining pool in the world. But as early as February 2021, the platform disappeared without warning. While many speculated that the pressure of the Chinese government or an internal pivot had caused the closure, Arkham's conclusions indicate a much more dramatic cause: catastrophic hacking.
According to ArkhamLubian was compromised for the first time on December 28, 2020, when more than 90 % of his Bitcoin assets were emptied. The next day, an additional $ 6 million in BTC and USDT were stolen from a Lubian wallet on the Omni Bitcoin layer. At the time, the entire loot was worth around 3.5 billion dollars, more than any other individual flight to date.
How the exploitation could have occurred
Arkham researchers think that the attacker has exploited a vulnerability in the algorithm that Lubian used to generate his private keys, making them vulnerable to brute force attacks. The analysis platform wrote:
It seems that Lubian used an algorithm of generation of private keys vulnerable to attacks by brute force.
Despite the flight, Lubian managed to preserve 11,886 BTC, of an current value of around 1.35 billion dollars, which he still controls.
What is more surprising: the attacker has not moved any of the bitcoins stolen since July 2024, suggesting either a fear of being followed, or plans for a more discreet liquidation strategy.
A call by the blockchain
Lubian directly contacted the attacker via the Bitcoin op_return field, a method that incorporates small messages into blockchain transactions. In two messages, the company launched an appeal:
At the Whitehat who saves our assets, you can contact us … to discuss the return of assets and your reward.
This implies that Lubian initially hoped that the attacker was an ethical hacker ready to negotiate. So far, no return of funds has been reported publicly.
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