• 29 April 2025
• |
• 07:00

A major Bitcoin theft may have unfolded over the weekend, according to on-chain sleuth ZachXBT.

Approximately 3,520 BTC, worth around $330 million at the time, was moved from a wallet suspected to belong to a victim, then swiftly transferred to the address “bc1qcry…vz55g.”

The funds didn’t stay idle. Investigators report that shortly after the transfer, the Bitcoin was rapidly laundered through at least six different exchanges, a tactic commonly used to fragment and obscure stolen assets. From there, the bulk of the funds were converted into Monero (XMR), a privacy-focused cryptocurrency that makes transactions harder to trace.

This laundering activity had an immediate impact on the market. Due to Monero’s relatively thin liquidity on major exchanges, the sudden influx of demand triggered a sharp 50% price surge, briefly inflating XMR’s value before conditions stabilized.

While the identity of the victim and the circumstances of the theft remain unclear, the method points to a growing trend: cybercriminals favoring privacy coins like Monero to erase traces of large-scale crypto heists. The incident also underscores the ongoing challenges facing exchanges and regulators, who are struggling to combat sophisticated laundering operations in the decentralized financial world.

As investigations continue, the case serves as another reminder that even in 2025, security remains a critical weak point in the broader cryptocurrency ecosystem.

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