Concerns arise over potential compromises in U.S. government crypto wallets, as analysts draw attention to questionable on-chain activities.
As reported by Arkham, it is suspected that hackers have appropriated $20 million in assets such as Ethereum (ETH), Tether (USDT), and Circle USD Coin (USDC) from addresses overseen by the U.S. government.
This evolving narrative, supported by blockchain investigator ZachXBT on Telegram, may implicate funds retrieved from the Bitfinex hackers. Arkham noted that address 0xc9E received assets seized from at least one wallet referenced in the Bitfinex court filings.
In 2016, the Bitfinex exchange was compromised by Ilya Lichtenstein and his partner, Heather Morgan, also known as Razzlekhan, who stole approximately $8 billion in Bitcoin (BTC). Nearly ten years later, federal officials are recommending a five-year sentence for Lichtenstein.
Arkham stated in its October 24 announcement regarding the suspicious transactions that the hackers appeared to have begun selling and laundering the seized assets after breaching U.S. government wallets.
Funds were transferred to wallet 0x348, which has initiated the sale of these assets for ETH. We suspect the attacker has commenced laundering the funds through dubious addresses associated with a money laundering operation.
Arkham
Prior to identifying the concerning activities within U.S. government wallets, Arkham reported that these wallets withdrew over $6.5 million in crypto from the decentralized finance provider Aave. Additionally, data from Etherscan indicated that a U.S. government address incurred Ethereum fees as high as $1,000 to transfer roughly $100,000 in cryptocurrencies.
This story is still developing.
