Original Source: Arkham

Original Translation: Wenser, Odaily Planet Daily

Editor's Note: In the current turbulent cryptocurrency market, the on-chain data platform Arkham released a lengthy article yesterday revealing a hacker incident known as the "largest BTC theft case in history." The platform involved was the BTC well-known mining pool LuBian. The platform once controlled 6% of the Bitcoin network's total hash rate but suffered a theft of over 127,000 BTC in December 2020, valued at approximately $14.5 billion. Odaily Planet Daily will organize this nearly 5-year-old hacker incident in this article for readers' reference.

Largest BTC Theft Case in History: Over 127,000 BTC, Current Value of $14.5 Billion

Recently, the on-chain data platform Arkham revealed in a post that the "largest BTC theft case in history" has come to light, with the involved platform being the LuBian mining pool.

It is understood that the mining equipment of this pool was mainly deployed in China and Iran. According to on-chain data analysis, in December 2020, 127,426 BTC from the LuBian mining pool were stolen, with the assets valued at $3.5 billion at the time and now worth approximately $14.5 billion. At the time of publication, LuBian and the hacker involved in this theft have not publicly admitted to this hack.

Details of the "LuBian BTC Theft Case" are as follows:

In 2020, as one of the world's largest BTC mining pools, LuBian officially began operations, with reports indicating that the pool was founded and managed by Chinese miners and was a private pool. According to Glassnode data, the pool started mining in March 2020; BTC.com shows that the Lubian pool first produced a block in April 2020. By May 2020, it almost controlled 6% of the Bitcoin network's total hash rate. However, mining activity of this pool ceased after block 672,636 on February 28, 2021.

LuBian mining pool once ranked in the industry's top 10

Number of Blocks Mined Monthly by Lubian.com

On December 28, 2020, the LuBian mining pool was first hacked, with over 90% of the Bitcoin in the pool stolen.

On December 29, 2020, approximately $6 million worth of Bitcoin and USDT was once again stolen from an active address on the Bitcoin Omni layer belonging to Lubian.

On December 31, 2020, Lubian transferred the remaining funds to another wallet.

On-Chain Message Sent by Lubian to the Hacker

According to a screenshot, all hacker addresses received an OP_RETURN on-chain message from Lubian, pleading with the hacker to return the stolen funds.

Based on on-chain information, Lubian sent these messages through 1516 transactions, spending 1.4 BTC, indicating that these on-chain messages were not forged by other hackers through brute-forcing private keys (Odaily Planet Daily note: After all, few would send so many messages and incur such high costs for on-chain communication unless compelled).

Available information indicates that the Lubian mining pool may have used an algorithm vulnerable to brute-force attacks to generate its private key, which became the vulnerability exploited by the hacker.

On-chain data shows that addresses related to the Lubian mining pool still hold 11,886 BTC, currently valued at $1.36 billion.

Lubian Address Asset Information

On the other hand, on-chain information reveals that the hacker in the Lubian theft case still holds the stolen BTC, with their most recent on-chain activity being a wallet consolidation in July 2024.

Hacker Address Asset Information from Lubian

At that time, LuBian's stolen assets were valued at up to $3.5 billion, making it the largest hack in history.

Due to the continuous rise in Bitcoin price since 2020, the 127,400 BTC stolen by LuBian is currently worth around $14.5 billion. This asset has made the LuBian hacker the 13th largest Bitcoin holder in Arkham Platform's statistical data, surpassing even the hacker in the Mt. Gox hack that year.

Furthermore, according to information from the Compass Mining website, the LuBian mining pool has reportedly rebranded as Roadside Mining. Between May 2020 and February 2021, LuBian's mining operations seemed to be operating at full throttle, with an average of 174 blocks mined per month. Through nearly a year of mining, it accumulated over 16,200 BTC. At the price peak in April 2021, the asset value of these BTC exceeded $1 billion.

Today, the once top mining pool has ceased operations, leaving behind only the history of this five-year-old "largest BTC theft in history," evoking deep emotions.

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