Overview

• Arkham’s analysis shows hackers exploited a flaw in LuBian’s private-key generation to steal 127,426 BTC from the mining pool in December 2020.
• The coins were worth $3.5 billion at the time of the theft and have since appreciated to roughly $14.5 billion.
• In late 2020 LuBian shifted 11,886 BTC into recovery wallets and sent OP_RETURN messages offering a reward for the assets’ return.
• The hacker consolidated the dormant coins into a single wallet in July 2024 and has not spent any, fueling market uncertainty over potential dumping.
• The unprecedented scale of the heist eclipses all prior crypto thefts and underscores ongoing security gaps in mining-pool governance.