Nearly 127,000 Bitcoins stolen in a case involving an amount as high as $14.5 billion

Recently, a theft case involving a large amount of Bitcoin has attracted widespread attention in the cryptocurrency world. According to a certain on-chain data platform, this may be the largest Bitcoin theft incident to date, with an amount involved reaching as high as $14.5 billion.

The main character of the event is a mining pool named LuBian, which controlled about 6% of the total Bitcoin network hash rate in 2020. However, in December of the same year, this former industry giant suffered a devastating hacker attack that resulted in 127,426 Bitcoins being stolen.

According to the analysis, the LuBian mining pool mainly deploys mining equipment in China and Iran. When it was attacked by hackers, the stolen assets were valued at approximately $3.5 billion. With the rise in Bitcoin prices, the current market value of these assets has soared to an astonishing $14.5 billion.

It is worth noting that, as of now, neither the LuBian mining pool nor the involved hackers have publicly acknowledged this incident.

Let's review the timeline of this major event:

• In March 2020, LuBian Mining Pool began operations and quickly became one of the largest Bitcoin mining pools in the world.
• In May 2020, LuBian controlled nearly 6% of the Bitcoin network's computing power.
• On December 28, 2020, LuBian experienced its first hacking attack, with over 90% of the Bitcoin stolen.
• On December 29, 2020, approximately $6 million worth of Bitcoin and USDT was stolen from LuBian-related addresses.
• On December 31, 2020, LuBian transferred the remaining funds to other wallets.
• On February 28, 2021, the LuBian mining pool ceased mining activities.

Interestingly, after the hack, LuBian attempted to communicate with the hackers through messages on the blockchain, pleading for the return of the stolen funds. The cost of sending these messages reached 1.4 Bitcoins, highlighting the seriousness of the situation.

Currently, on-chain data shows that addresses related to LuBian still hold 11,886 Bitcoins, worth approximately $1.36 billion. The hacker's address holds all the stolen Bitcoins, with the most recent activity being a wallet consolidation that took place in July 2024.

This incident not only involved a huge amount of money but also triggered deep reflections on the security of cryptocurrencies. Some analyses suggest that LuBian may have used algorithms that are easily susceptible to brute force attacks to generate private keys, which became a breakthrough point for the hacker's attack.

Although LuBian mined over 16,200 Bitcoins during its nearly one year of operation, with a value that once exceeded 1 billion USD, this once leading mining pool has now stopped operating. This "largest Bitcoin theft in history" has become an important milestone in the history of cryptocurrency, reminding us that security is always the primary consideration in this rapidly evolving field.