
One of the largest cryptocurrency heists in history has come to light, as blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence revealed a massive theft involving 127,426 Bitcoin. The digital assets, originally stolen from the Chinese mining pool LuBian in December 2020, were worth $3.5 billion at the time. Today, their value has soared to an astonishing $14.5 billion.
According to Arkham’s report, the theft occurred quietly on December 28, 2020. Hackers drained over 90% of LuBian’s reserves in a single breach. The mining pool, which once controlled about 6% of Bitcoin’s global hash rate, vanished from operations shortly after, sparking speculation. Until now, the incident had remained entirely hidden from public view.
Analysts believe the breach was enabled by a vulnerability in LuBian’s private key generation system, making it susceptible to brute-force attacks. Just a day after the main hack, another $6 million in Bitcoin and USDT was stolen from a related wallet.
In a rare and desperate move, LuBian attempted to communicate with the hacker by embedding over 1,500 messages into the Bitcoin blockchain using the OP_RETURN field. These messages, which cost the company about 1.4 BTC to send, included pleas for the return of the stolen funds and even referred to the hacker as a possible “whitehat” — a benevolent actor.
Despite the enormous loss, LuBian was able to secure and move around 11,886 Bitcoin into recovery wallets by December 31, 2020. These funds, now worth approximately $1.35 billion, represent the only confirmed assets retained by the company.
The stolen Bitcoin has remained mostly untouched. The last movement detected was a wallet consolidation in July 2024. The hacker’s wallet now ranks among the top 20 Bitcoin holders globally, even exceeding the assets lost in the infamous Mt. Gox breach.
As crypto security concerns grow, this revelation underscores the persistent risks in the digital asset space — and how long even major crimes can remain buried in blockchain history.