TechFlow news, August 3 — According to Arkham, LuBian, once among the world's top ten mining pools, suffered a major security incident in December 2020, during which a total of 127,426 BTC were stolen. Valued at current prices, the amount equals $14.5 billion, making it the largest Bitcoin theft in history.
Arkham stated that LuBian was a Chinese mining pool with mining facilities in China and Iran. In May 2020, it controlled nearly 6% of the Bitcoin network’s global hash rate, giving it significant industry influence. The attack occurred on December 28, 2020, when attackers reportedly exploited vulnerabilities in its private key generation algorithm, using brute-force methods to successfully steal over 90% of its holdings. The next day (December 29), the hacker transferred part of the stolen BTC worth $6 million.
In addition, LuBian attempted to appeal to the hacker via on-chain OP_RETURN messages, pleading for the return of the stolen assets. The official team sent 1,516 transactions containing such messages, consuming a total of 1.4 BTC, further confirming the authenticity of this incident.
Currently, LuBian still holds 11,886 BTC (approximately $1.35 billion), while the hacker’s most recent on-chain activity was an address consolidation in July 2024. As of the disclosure date, the hacker still controls the stolen BTC and remains unidentified. Their holdings now rank as the 13th-largest BTC holder globally, even surpassing the Mt. Gox hacker addresses.
