Blockchain investigator ZachXBT has increased his estimate of a suspected crypto theft involving an unidentified European Union entity to more than $133 million, up from the $106 million he initially reported on Monday. He said Tuesday that he had identified another $27 million in withdrawals from centralized exchanges, including some that took place after his first disclosure.
ZachXBT said his working theory was that a large financial institution in Western Europe had been exploited and that the incident was being covered up. The identity of the alleged victim and the cover-up claim remain unverified.
He also argued that the absence of a proper incident disclosure allowed more than $30 million to be laundered, saying EU law enforcement might otherwise have been able to freeze the funds.
Bitquery reported that $62.98 million in stablecoins was converted into 27,553 Ether over roughly four hours. By 13:47 UTC on Monday, about $78.3 million remained in wallets linked to the suspected attacker, while $30.5 million had moved from the tracked addresses. Bitquery said only $3.74 million remained in USDC that issuer Circle might be able to freeze.
ZachXBT previously said the suspected attacker was converting funds into Ether and Monero through instant exchanges and cross-chain bridges. He added that the laundering patterns did not match those typically associated with North Korea’s Lazarus Group.
Sources: Cointelegraph.