China Raises Alarm Over Alleged Us Role In One Of The Largest...

After announcing the “largest forfeiture action” in the history of the DOJ, the US faces questions about how it accessed the over 127,000 Bitcoin stolen from the LuBian mining pool.

China’s national cyber defense agency has made big claims around the alleged role of the US in the multibillion-dollar hack of LuBian, once a major Chinese Bitcoin mining pool.

The Chinese National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC), a state-backed cyber defense agency, on Sunday published a technical analysis report on the 127,272 Bitcoin (BTC) stolen in the LuBian hack.

Although the hack occurred in December 2020, it remained largely unknown to the public until recently, with Arkham reporting it in August as the “largest ever” Bitcoin hack.

The CVERC’s analysis came weeks after the US filed a civil forfeiture complaint for 127,271 BTC (worth about $14.5 billion) in a criminal case against Prince Group founder Chen Zhi, who reportedly owned the BTC held by LuBian before it was hacked.

While formally filing to seize the $14.5 billion fortune in mid-October, the US government had already been holding the assets in custody, according to the indictment statement.

“Those funds are presently in the custody of the US government,” the statement noted, adding that the complaint is the “largest forfeiture action in the history of the Department of Justice.”

The CVERC highlighted that the US government has not disclosed in the indictment how it obtained access to the funds, and claimed the US had been in control of the assets for more than a year, citing Arkham data.

According to Arkham data, an address labeled “LuBian.com Hacker” sent 120,576 BTC — almost its entire holdings — to an address labeled “US Government: Chen Zhi Seized Funds” in a single transaction on July 5, 2024.

The CVERC said the stolen Bitcoin on the LuBian hacker’s addresses had remained dormant for nearly four years following the hack until the funds were “fully taken over by the US government” last year.

Source: CoinTelegraph