Stealing $1.5B in crypto is easy, cashing out is the trap
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT says he posed as a customer of a Chinese laundering network to learn how funds stolen in the $1.5 billion Bybit hack were moved. His transactions and private conversations helped trace a cluster of more than $12 million in Bybit-linked funds and, he says, led Tether to freeze 442,000 USDT; the traced and frozen amounts are not equivalent to funds recovered. The investigation illustrates how relationships with financial intermediaries can reveal information that blockchain tracing alone cannot. US actions against laundering marketplaces Huione and Xinbi show that sanctions and infrastructure seizures can disrupt criminal services, but users may migrate to replacement providers. Issuer-controlled stablecoins can be frozen, while other assets and services may be harder to restrain.
