Arkham Intelligence reveals the 127,426 BTC theft that went unnoticed for over four years.
Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence has uncovered one of the largest bitcoin thefts in history. The cyberattack, carried out in December 2020 against the Chinese mining pool LuBian, resulted in the theft of 127,426 BTC—worth approximately $14.5 billion at current prices.
The theft positions the unknown attacker as the 13th-largest bitcoin holder, according to Arkham’s rankings. At the time of the theft, in December 2020, the stolen bitcoins was worth around $3.5 billion.
LuBian, which at the time ranked among the world’s top ten mining pools, controlling 6% of the hash rate, suffered the attack without ever disclosing it publicly. The mining firm eventually ceased operations in early 2021.
How the theft happened
According to Arkham Intelligence’s analysis, the theft was made possible by a vulnerability in the generation of private keys, which proved susceptible to brute-force attacks. The hacker managed to steal over 90% of LuBian’s bitcoin holdings during the initial attack in December 2020.
Later that same month, a second attack resulted in the theft of an additional $6 million in bitcoin and USDT from a LuBian address active on the Bitcoin Omni layer. In response, LuBian transferred the remaining funds to a recovery wallet at the end of December.
Attempts to recover the funds
In a desperate effort to recover the stolen funds, LuBian sent over 1,500 small transactions—spending approximately 1.4 BTC—each containing messages pleading with the hacker to return the stolen bitcoins. However, these appeals went unanswered, and the theft was never reimbursed.
Currently, LuBian still holds 11,886 BTC from its original holdings, worth around $1.35 billion. Meanwhile, the hacker continues to control the stolen bitcoins, with the last movement recorded in July 2024 during a wallet consolidation.
