Kelp DAO Hacker Launders $220M in Stolen Funds via Privacy Tools, $71M Frozen

According to BlockBeats, on June 2, approximately $220 million of the $292 million stolen in the April Kelp DAO cross-chain bridge attack has been essentially laundered, with the attacker's original address now holding only around $1.7 million in remaining assets. On-chain analysis shows the hacker, attributed to the Lazarus Group by investigators, completed multiple rounds of cross-chain swaps and coin mixing through privacy tools including THORChain, Wasabi, Tornado Cash, and Umbra, moving most funds beyond traceable range.

The only assets with significant recovery potential are approximately 30,766 ETH (around $71 million) frozen by the Arbitrum Security Council, though these funds are now subject to legal dispute. The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York issued a restraining order freezing the assets while North Korean terrorism victims' families seek forfeiture through legal proceedings to enforce damages.