U.S. government’s crypto wallet holding caught bitfinex funds is hacked: Arkham Intelligence Agency

Arkham Intelligence, a crypto-tracking company, has alerted major thefts in the United States. According to its tracking data, the U.S. government’s crypto wallet, which accounted for a portion of assets seized in Bitfinex Hack in 2016, has been compromised by an unknown hacker. Arkham reported that the wallet had stolen about $20 million (about Rs 16.8 billion).

Less than a week ago, the alleged hacker-involved assets were being transferred to an activated crypto wallet. Media reports state that the wallet’s address begins at “0x348”.

According to the Arkham website tracking the set of U.S. government wallets, hackers executed four transactions to obtain stolen funds. The largest transaction involves AUSDC tokens worth US$13.7 million (approximately Rs 11.5 crore). AUSDC tokens are interest assets that represent USDC deposited in the AAVE loan market.

In the other three deals, the hackers managed to snap up US$5.5 million (about Rs 46 crore) of USDC, a tether worth US$1.25 million (about Rs 10 crore) and a $446,000 (about Rs 327 crore) Ethereeum Sokens.

“We believe that attackers have begun to launder money through suspicious addresses related to money laundering services,” the on-chain analytics platform posted details about the incident on X.

Members of the crypto community, including crypto commentator on X and scam investigator Zachxbt, are tracking the flow of funds stolen from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) wallet. The funds appear to be moving across multiple platforms, including exchanges for the summary of 1-inch and two-link-related platforms.

The Justice Department has not issued a public statement on this situation. It is also unknown whether legal proceedings have been filed against this incident.

In recent weeks, U.S. authorities have repeatedly warned the global crypto community that the number of hackers and scams involved in the industry has increased. Despite being vigilant, it is shocking that crypto wallets controlled by the U.S. government were violated by hackers.