Tensions around a long-running mystery concerning 127,000 stolen bitcoin, now valued at almost $13 billion, are rising as a Chinese cybersecurity watchdog accuses the US government of participating in a significant cryptocurrency theft.
Bitcoin theft from China
According to a technical report by China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Centre (CVERC), the U.S. Department of Justice confiscated Bitcoin that was first pilfered in a 2020 breach that targeted the LuBian mining pool.
The head of Cambodia’s Prince Group, Chen Zhi, who is currently facing an indictment in the United States for allegedly operating a massive cryptocurrency fraud operation, was connected to the hacked currencies at the time.
Also Read: China’s NYSE-Listed E-Commerce Platform MOGU Greenlights $20M Investment In Crypto Treasury
The timeline presented in the paper suggests that a “state-level hacking organisation” was responsible for the breach, which was carried out using sophisticated tools. The People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party of China, is linked to the Global Times, a state-owned daily in China.
The Bitcoin stolen remains dormant
Both the attack and the stolen bitcoin went unreported for over four years. The hoard was then discreetly moved to new wallets in the middle of 2024. Later, the blockchain analysis company Arkham identified the wallets as being owned by the U.S. government.
The U.S. say that the money was obtained illegally is refuted by CVERC’s study. Rather, the agency asserts that the seizure may have been the last phase of a protracted operation involving the same perpetrators of the first heist.
The LuBian hack
On August 4th, Blockchain intelligence firm Arkham revealed that 127,000 BTC was taken from the Chinese Bitcoin mining pool Lubian in December 2020. This was the first time a previously unreported cryptocurrency theft had been proven to be the biggest in history.
The breach, which went unnoticed for almost four years, surpasses the $1.5 billion Bybit attack and recasts the story of what was believed to be regulatory hardship that caused Lubian to abruptly close in early 2021.
USA and China
In a recent interview this month, Donald Trump stated that his sole concern was whether the United States would lead the world in cryptocurrency. Since cryptocurrency has done well, he was correct in that regard.
He said that cryptocurrency had grown to be a huge sector, if one could call it that, and he was pleased to state that they were far ahead of China and everyone else, despite China’s significant involvement.
Also Read: China’s Largest Bitcoin Treasury Firm May Plan $500 Billion Stock Sale To Increase Bitcoin Holdings