📰 127,426 BTC Stolen: The Largest Bitcoin Theft in History Went Undetected for 5 Years
According to blockchain intelligence firm Arkham, Chinese mining pool LuBian was quietly hacked in December 2020 — losing a staggering 127,426 BTC in what is now one of the largest crypto thefts ever.
Back then, the loss was worth $3.5 billion. Today, it would be valued at over $14.5 billion.
🔍 Key Details:
On December 28, 2020, over 90% of LuBian’s BTC reserves were drained in a single transaction.
Two days later, another ~$6 million worth of BTC and USDT was stolen from a related Omni address.
By December 31, LuBian moved the remaining 11,886 BTC to "recovery wallets."
In total, LuBian attempted 1,516 OP_RETURN transactions, asking for the funds back — burning 1.4 BTC in fees in the process.
🔐 What Went Wrong?
Researchers believe LuBian used insecure private key generation, allowing the attacker to brute-force access to wallet addresses.
💣 Aftermath:
The attacker still holds the full amount.
The stolen BTC was consolidated into a single wallet in July 2024.
According to Arkham, this address is now among the top 13 BTC holders globally — larger than Mt. Gox’s cold wallet.
