Original source: Arkham
Original translation by: Wenser, Odaily Planet Daily
Editor's note: As the cryptocurrency market currently experiences a downward trend, the on-chain data platform Arkham released a long article yesterday exposing a hacker incident that can be considered 'the largest BTC theft in history,' with the platform involved being the well-known BTC mining pool LuBian. This platform once controlled 6% of the total Bitcoin network hash rate but suffered the theft of over 127,000 BTC in December 2020, which is now valued at approximately 14.5 billion USD. Odaily Planet Daily will compile this nearly five-year-old hacker incident for readers' reference.
The largest BTC theft in history: over 127,000 BTC, currently valued at 14.5 billion USD
Recently, the on-chain data platform Arkham published an article revealing that 'the largest BTC theft in history' has come to light—the platform involved is the LuBian mining pool.
It is understood that the mining equipment of this pool is mainly deployed in China and Iran. According to on-chain data analysis, in December 2020, 127,426 BTC was stolen from the LuBian mining pool, which at that time was valued at 3.5 billion USD and is now valued at approximately 14.5 billion USD. As of the time of publication, neither LuBian nor the hackers involved in this theft have publicly acknowledged the hack.
On-chain data analysis illustration
'LuBian BTC Theft Case' details are as follows:
In 2020, as one of the largest BTC mining pools in the world, LuBian officially began operations, with reports indicating that the pool was founded and managed by Chinese miners as a private pool. According to Glassnode data, the pool started mining in March 2020; BTC.com shows that the Lubian pool first produced blocks in April 2020. By May 2020, it controlled nearly 6% of the total Bitcoin network hash rate. However, the pool's mining activities ceased after block 672,636 on February 28, 2021.
The LuBian mining pool once ranked among the top 10 in the industry
The number of blocks mined by Lubian.com each month
On December 28, 2020, the LuBian mining pool was first attacked by hackers, with over 90% of the Bitcoin in the pool being stolen.
On December 29, 2020, approximately 6 million USD worth of Bitcoin and USDT was stolen again from an active address belonging to Lubian on the Bitcoin Omni layer.
On December 31, 2020, LuBian transferred the remaining funds to other wallets.
On-chain messages sent by LuBian to the hackers
According to screenshots, all hacker addresses received on-chain messages from LuBian, pleading for the hackers to return the stolen funds.
According to on-chain information, LuBian spent 1.4 BTC to send these messages through 1,516 transactions, indicating that these on-chain messages were not fabricated information by other hackers through brute-forcing private keys (Odaily Planet Daily notes: After all, few people would send so many messages and incur such high costs for on-chain communication unless forced to do so).
Current information indicates that the LuBian mining pool may have used an algorithm that is easily susceptible to brute-force attacks to generate its private keys, and this has become a vulnerability exploited by hackers.
On-chain information shows that addresses related to the LuBian mining pool still hold 11,886 BTC, currently valued at 1.36 billion USD.
LuBian address asset information
On the other hand, on-chain information shows that the hackers involved in the LuBian theft still hold the stolen BTC, with their last on-chain activity being a wallet consolidation in July 2024.
LuBian hacker address asset information
At that time, the value of the stolen assets from LuBian reached up to 3.5 billion USD, marking it as the largest hacker theft security incident ever.
Due to the continuous rise in Bitcoin prices since 2020, the 127,400 BTC stolen from LuBian is currently valued at approximately 14.5 billion USD. This asset makes the LuBian hacker the 13th largest holder of Bitcoin according to Arkham platform statistics, even surpassing the hacker involved in the Mt. Gox theft that year.
Additionally, according to information from Compass Mining's website, LuBian mining pool is suspected of having rebranded to Roadside Mining. During the period from May 2020 to February 2021, LuBian's mining operations appeared to be running at full speed, with an average monthly block mining volume of up to 174. It accumulated over 16,200 BTC in nearly a year of mining, with these BTC valued at over 1 billion USD at the price peak in April 2021.
And now, the once leading mining pool has ceased operations, leaving behind the history of 'the largest BTC theft in history' that has been buried for 5 years, evoking deep reflections.
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