China’s National Cyber Defense Administration has made a major case for the United States’ role in the multibillion-dollar hack of LuBian, once China’s major Bitcoin mining pool.
China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center (CVERC), a state-backed cyber defense agency, on Sunday released a technical analysis report on the 127,272 Bitcoins (BTC) stolen in the LuBian hack.
The hack occurred in December 2020 but remained largely unknown to the public until recently, with Arkham reporting it in August as the “largest” Bitcoin hack in history.
CVERC’s analysis comes weeks after the US filed a civil forfeiture complaint of 127,271 BTC (worth approximately $14.5 billion) in a criminal case against Prince Group founder Chen Zhi. Chen Zhi reportedly owned 127,272 BTC held by LuBian before he was hacked.
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According to the indictment, it formally filed for seizure of $14.5 billion in assets in mid-October, but the U.S. government had already taken custody of the assets.
“These funds are now in the custody of the U.S. government,” the statement said, adding that the complaint is “the largest forfeiture case in the history of the Department of Justice.”
CVERC emphasized that the indictment did not disclose how the U.S. government gained access to the funds, citing Arkham data and asserting that the U.S. had been in control of the assets for more than a year.
According to Arkham data, on July 5, 2024, an address labeled “LuBian.com Hacker” sent 120,576 BTC (nearly the entire holding) to an address labeled “US Government: Chen Zhi Seized Funds” in a single transaction.
CVERC said the stolen bitcoins at the LuBian hacker’s address remained dormant for nearly four years after the hack, until the funds were “fully taken over by the U.S. government” last year.
CVERC said that the long period of time the stolen bitcoins remained dormant before being seized by the U.S. is “clearly inconsistent with the nature of ordinary hackers eager to cash in and pursue profits.”
It is more like a precise operation organized by a state-owned hacking organization. ”
The CVERC report also stated that Zhi and his Prince Group repeatedly sent messages to the hacker’s address through Bitcoin transactions of approximately $23 each, begging for the return of the stolen BTC and offering rewards, but received no response.
The report adds a geopolitical dimension to one of the most mysterious crypto thefts in history.
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According to Arkham, the chain of Bitcoin holdings originating from LuBian accounts for at least 39% of the total 326.5 BTC ($34.2 billion) held in U.S. government-related addresses at the time of publication.
US President Donald Trump recently declared that the US is “far ahead of China and other countries” in adopting cryptocurrencies. “China is now getting involved in this issue in a very big way,” he said in a Nov. 2 interview on CBS News’ 60 Minutes.
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