ZachXBT detects suspicious Bitcoin transfer worth $330 million causing a surge in Monero
ZachXBT detected a Bitcoin theft worth $330 million, and the funds were laundered through Monero, causing the price of XMR to soar.
Onchain detective ZachXBT flagged a suspicious transaction involving 3,520 Bitcoin (worth $330.7 million) that may indicate a major theft. The transaction was reported on April 28, witnessing funds being transferred from a potential victim's wallet to the address bc1qcry...vz55g.
After the transfer, the stolen funds were quickly laundered through more than six instant exchange platforms and converted into the privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero.
According to data from CoinMarketCap, the large-scale conversion caused the XMR price to spike by 50%, reaching a daily high of $339.
At the time of writing, XMR has stabilized somewhat but is still up 25% in the past 24 hours, trading at $289.
When asked if North Korea's Lazarus Group was behind the attack, ZachXBT dismissed the hypothesis, stating that "it is highly unlikely" and suggesting that independent hackers were the actual perpetrators.