$14.5B in Stolen Bitcoin Exposed: Secret Heist From Chinese Mining Giant Finally Revealed

Key Takeaways:

• Arkham Intelligence traced 127,426 BTC, now worth over $14.5B to a theft from mining pool LuBian in December 2020.
• The stolen BTC had remained dormant for nearly four years, making it the largest known crypto theft in history.
• A security flaw in LuBian’s private key algorithm enabled the heist, while the hacker has yet to cash out the funds.

Blockchain forensics has seen a significant jump as one of the largest crypto crimes ever witnessed has been identified. According to Arkham Intelligence, a pioneer in blockchain investigations, a theft that took place in the past dates back to six years back and amounted to 127,000 BTC, or someone stole a fortune that was worth $3.5 billion then but added to $14.5 billion at the present.

How Arkham Exposed the Hidden Mega-Heist

Silent Theft, Dormant Coins

In a recent report, Arkham detailed how the Bitcoin in question had been quietly stolen from LuBian, a major Chinese mining pool that once contributed nearly 6% of Bitcoin’s global hash rate. Despite the scale of the theft, no public disclosure was ever made, and the crypto community had no knowledge of the heist until now.

The stolen BTC, which sat untouched on the blockchain for nearly four years, had largely escaped attention. That is, until Arkham’s on-chain sleuths flagged an anomaly in wallet structures tied to LuBian addresses. Arkham found out that the date of the attack was December 28, 2020, having transferred BTC the first time.

The assets had remained silent, neither laundered nor spent, raising speculation about the hacker’s motives and strategy. The latest movement was only a wallet consolidation in July 2024, with no signs of liquidation.

Read More : Arkham Intelligence Launch Spot Trading in 17 States, Sets Sights on U.S.

A Billion-Dollar Breach, Anatomy

The Vulnerability

Arkham analysis points to the fact that LuBian vulnerable weak point lies in treatment in its procedure to generate its own key private. Their algorithm could be attacked with brute-force, probably with predictable entropy or too little randomness.

This made hackers seize total control of LuBian wallets and drain them of most of their BTC supply.

Bian in his Desperate Reply

LuBian strived to make last minute efforts of recovery. At the end of 2020, on December 31, the mining pool also tried to transfer the remaining funds to new wallets and even communicated with the hacker through blockchain messages.

Through use of OP_RETURN on the Bitcoin network, LuBian made more than 1,500 messages via 1.4 BTC worth of transaction fees, begging the attacker. These transactions, publicized, were real efforts to negotiate, and not spoofing or additional theft.

All this was in vain, the damage was enormous:

• Stolen in total: 127,426 BTC
• Current valuation: 14.5 billion dollars
• The amount remaining which LuBian managed to save: 11,886 BTC (~$1.35 billion)

What It Means to Crypto Security

Better Than Just Another Hack

This theft has outdone all other thefts before it and it is the largest confirmed theft in history of Bitcoin theft.

The scale of this case is not a unique aspect compared to the opacity and silence that surrounds it. That a leading miners pool could lose its money without any notice and subsequent legal action or reporting is a testament to the sheer issue of the security and governance of such a sector.

In front of regulatory pressure on centralized exchanges and custodians, transforming their practices to tighten security procedures, mining pools are less controlled and their wallet handling routines are poorly exposed to scrutiny.

Unspent, Well the Money is Unspent

Even the fact that not a single stolen BTC has ever been cashed out or laundered, causes worries. This money may still find its way into circulation, either through a period of time in the mixers, or, by large purchases in the OTC markets.

Blockchain investigators now suspect that the hacker is either:

• Waiting for favorable conditions (e.g., regulatory gaps, black-market liquidity), or
• Part of a larger operation capable of handling billions in illicit assets without triggering alarms.

Either scenario poses risks to market stability and ongoing investigations into crypto-financed activities globally.

Read More : 59.9B in Bitcoin Unmasked: Arkham Traces 97% of Strategy’s Secret Wallets

Bitcoin Market Faces Weekly Test Amid Heist News

Price at Critical Support Level

The timing of this revelation couldn’t be more sensitive. Bitcoin is hovering around $112,726, just above the 50-week moving average. A failure to close above $115,724 by week’s end could trigger broader technical breakdowns.

Investor sentiment remains divided. On one side stands those who consider this heist a story of long ago but on the other side there is a fear of a liquidation potential which may inject the market with flooding liquidation.

The next 48 hours will be decisive for Bitcoin’s short-term price action and whether the uncovered mega-heist shakes more than just the headlines.