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Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence has exposed a massive 2020 Bitcoin heist, potentially the largest crypto theft in history. On August 2, 2025, Arkham revealed that 127,426 BTC, valued at $3.5 billion at the time and now worth $14.5 billion, was stolen from Chinese mining pool LuBian on December 28, 2020. A secondary breach on December 29 drained $6 million in BTC and USDT from a LuBian address on Bitcoin’s Omni layer. The mining pool, which controlled 6% of Bitcoin’s hash rate in mid-2020, never disclosed the breach, leading to its mysterious shutdown by February 2021.
Arkham’s investigation points to a flawed private key generation algorithm vulnerable to brute-force attacks as the cause. LuBian attempted to contact the hacker via 1,516 OP_RETURN messages on the blockchain, spending 1.4 BTC to plead for the return of funds, offering a reward. The stolen BTC, untouched since a July 2024 wallet consolidation, ranks the hacker among the top 13 Bitcoin holders. LuBian retains 11,886 BTC, worth $1.35 billion.
The heist surpasses the Mt. Gox collapse in value at the time of theft, highlighting ongoing crypto security risks. CertiK’s 2025 report notes $2.2 billion in crypto losses from hacks and scams in H1 2025, with wallet breaches costing $1.7 billion. Experts urge users to adopt hardware wallets and multi-signature setups to mitigate risks. Arkham’s findings, shared via X, underscore the need for robust key management and real-time monitoring to protect digital assets in the evolving crypto landscape.
