Arkham Intelligence uncovers the massive December 2020 hack of LuBian Mining Pool, detailing a weak private key vulnerability, sequential theft events, and OP_RETURN recovery attempts, positioning the hacker among top Bitcoin holders.
Arkham Intelligence revealed that in December 2020, LuBian Mining Pool was hit by a coordinated hack where 127,426 BTC—worth about $3.5 billion at the time and approximately $14.5 billion now—were stolen via a brute-force exploit of weak private key generation. An additional $6 million in BTC and USDT was taken the following day. Despite LuBian's efforts to recover funds through over 1,500 OP_RETURN messages (costing 1.4 BTC) and attempts to secure remaining assets, the hacker still controls the stolen coins, with a notable wallet consolidation occurring in July 2024.