Arkham Intelligence has uncovered a massive and previously unknown Bitcoin theft from December 2020 worth $14B in current markets.
Author: Sahil Thakur
Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence has uncovered a massive and previously unknown Bitcoin theft from December 2020. The hack, involving 127,426 BTC stolen from Chinese mining pool LuBian, is now valued at nearly $14.5 billion, making it the largest crypto heist ever recorded.
At the time of the theft, the stolen Bitcoin was worth about $3.5 billion. The revelation eclipses even Mt. Gox’s infamous loss, which involved more Bitcoin but held significantly less value due to lower market prices.
LuBian entered the Bitcoin mining scene in April 2020 and quickly rose to become the sixth-largest pool globally. At its peak, it controlled almost 6% of Bitcoin’s network hash rate. The pool described itself as “the safest high yielding mining pool in the world.”
But by February 2021, LuBian had vanished without explanation. Many speculated that Chinese authorities shut it down. Others thought the pool had gone private.
Now, Arkham Intelligence believes the real reason was far more severe—a devastating hack that drained nearly all of its Bitcoin.
According to Arkham’s on-chain analysis, attackers drained over 90% of LuBian’s BTC on December 28, 2020. The following day, an additional $6 million in BTC and USDT was stolen from a LuBian address tied to the Bitcoin Omni Layer.
Arkham linked the attacker’s addresses using blockchain data and OP_RETURN messages sent from LuBian’s wallet. The messages, embedded directly on-chain, attempted to contact the hacker.
One message read:
“To the whitehat who is saving our asset, you can contact us…to discuss the return of asset and your reward.”
LuBian reportedly spent 1.4 BTC across 1,516 transactions trying to recover the stolen funds or negotiate with the hacker. As of now, the hacker has not moved the funds again since July 2024.
Arkham suspects LuBian’s private keys were vulnerable to brute-force attacks. The mining pool may have used a flawed key generation method that exposed its wallets to easy exploitation.
Despite the breach, LuBian still holds 11,886 BTC, currently worth around $1.35 billion. The attacker’s wallet, now the 13th largest BTC holder globally, remains untouched.
This disclosure places the LuBian hack above all previously known crypto thefts in value. It surpasses the $1.5 billion Bybit exploit earlier this year and raises new concerns about legacy infrastructure in mining and wallet operations.
With most of the stolen BTC still dormant, the crypto community is closely watching for any signs of movement. Meanwhile, Arkham’s report is prompting urgent calls to review wallet security standards—especially among mining pools and centralized custodians.
| Rank | Incident / Platform | Amount Stolen | Year & Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | LuBian Mining Pool | 127,426 BTC (~$3.5 B then; ~$14.5 B now) | 2020 hack unveiled by Arkham in 2025; largest BTC theft ever |
| 2 | Bybit Exchange | ~$1.46–1.5 B in ETH | February 2025; suspected Lazarus Group operation |
| 3 | Ronin (Axie Infinity) | ~$620 M (ETH + USDC) | March 2022; confirmed North Korean Lazarus Group |
| 4 | Poly Network | ~$610 M | August 2021; funds mostly returned by hacker |
| 5 | Bitfinex Exchange | 119,756 BTC (~$1 B+) | August 2016; partly recovered; perpetrators arrested in 2022–24 |
| 6 | WazirX Exchange | ~$234.9 M | July 2024; hot wallet compromise linked to Lazarus |
| 7 | CoinDCX | ~$44 M | 2024–25; Bengaluru techie involved, N. Korea link suspected |
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