A massive Bitcoin theft was just revealed in December 2020, making it the largest cryptocurrency hack in history.
According to Arkham Intelligence, hackers stole 127,426 Bitcoin from LuBian, a Chinese mining pool. The stolen Bitcoin was worth $3.5 billion at the time. With the rise in Bitcoin price, the value of these assets is now $14.5 billion.
LuBian Exploitation: The largest cryptocurrency hack in history
LuBian operated mining facilities in China and Iran. In 2020, it controlled nearly 6% of the total Bitcoin hash rate.
Arkham's on-chain analysis found that over 90% of LuBian's BTC was stolen on December 28, 2020. Additional funds were stolen two days later from the Bitcoin Omni Layer address.
Neither LuBian nor the hacker publicly acknowledged the breach. The funds remained dormant until their maturity date in July 2024.
Arkham researchers linked multiple addresses used in the theft and noticed that each received OP_RETURN messages from LuBian. The group spent 1.4 Bitcoin in 1516 transactions to resume the stolen funds.
This pattern strongly suggests that the breach was real and not simulated. The hacker has not moved the stolen Bitcoin again since.
Arkham suspects that LuBian used a flawed algorithm to generate keys, which may have exposed its private keys to brute force attacks. LuBian still holds approximately 11,886 Bitcoin worth $1.35 billion.
Meanwhile, the hacker's wealth remains intact, making him the thirteenth largest Bitcoin holder in the world. This revelation surpasses the previous record: the $1.5 billion hack of Bybit in February 2025.
Arkham's disclosure adds new urgency to the review of the underlying infrastructure of security and cryptocurrencies, especially among older mining operations.