ZachXBT flags suspicious $330M Bitcoin switch triggering Monero surge
Onchain sleuth ZachXBT has flagged a suspicious switch involving 3,520 Bitcoin (BTC) (valued at $330.7 million) which will point out a significant theft. The transaction, reported on April 28, noticed funds moved from a possible sufferer’s pockets to the tackle bc1qcry…vz55g.
Following the switch, the stolen stash was rapidly laundered via over six on the spot exchanges and swapped into privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero (XMR).
The massive-scale conversion led to a pointy 50% spike in XMR’s value, with the token reaching an intraday excessive of $339, based on knowledge from CoinMarketCap.
On the time of writing, XMR has settled barely however stays up 25% prior to now 24 hours, buying and selling at $289.
When requested whether or not North Korea’s Lazarus Group was behind the assault, ZachXBT dismissed the speculation, stating it was “extremely possible it’s not,” suggesting unbiased hackers have been accountable.
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Overwhelming majority of hackers use mainstream cryptos
In a current remark to Cointelegraph, Chainalysis famous that almost all felony transactions nonetheless depend on mainstream cryptocurrencies.
“Whereas there are issues of extra criminals shifting to privateness cash for anonymity, the overwhelming majority of felony exercise nonetheless makes use of mainstream cryptocurrencies, equivalent to Bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoins,” Chainalysis stated.
The agency added that these belongings stay engaging as a result of they provide the identical advantages to unhealthy actors as they do to respectable customers — cross-border performance, on the spot settlement, and excessive liquidity.
Chainalysis famous that privateness cash pose limitations for criminals as a consequence of diminished liquidity and the truth that many main exchanges have delisted belongings like Monero.
“Cryptocurrency is just helpful if you should buy and promote items and providers or money out into fiat, and that’s way more troublesome with privateness cash, particularly as many mainstream exchanges have offboarded using privateness cash, equivalent to Monero,” they defined.
The agency even stated that blockchain transparency permits regulation enforcement to hint and get better illicit funds, whatever the cryptocurrency used.
In 2024, a leaked Chainalysis video steered that Monero transactions could possibly be traceable regardless of the privacy-preserving nature of the blockchain.
The video reportedly confirmed how Chainalysis might monitor transactions again to 2021 through its personal “malicious” Monero nodes.
Associated: The IRS presents a $625,000 bounty to anybody who can break Monero and Lightning Community
Monero accepted at Spar shops in Switzerland
The suspected laundering operation comes as Monero is gaining wider retail acceptance. Two Spar grocery store places in Switzerland not too long ago started accepting XMR for funds.
The announcement, shared by Monero’s official X account, credit partnerships with DFX Swiss and OpenCryptoPay for enabling the combination.
One person, posting on April 25, shared their expertise of buying natural cacao utilizing XMR at a Spar retailer in Kreuzlingen.
In April 2025, Spar first tapped into the crypto market by introducing Bitcoin funds via the Lightning Community at shops in Zug, Switzerland.
Journal: Bitcoin $100K hopes on ice, SBF’s mysterious jail transfer: Hodler’s Digest, April 20 – 26
