ZachXBT Names French Banking Giant in Alleged $133M Crypto Heist

Bitquery revealed that Tether froze just $1.14 million in USDT, while Circle had yet to freeze $2.53 million in USDC linked to the investigation. ZachXBT has identified French bank Crédit Mutuel Arkéa as the alleged EU financial institution behind a crypto theft of more than $133 million. In his latest update, the blockchain investigator said the bank, which reportedly holds over $235 billion in assets, was targeted over multiple days. Investigation Expands The disclosure follows his earlier investigation into suspicious withdrawals from multiple centralized exchange accounts, which was initially estimated at around $106 million. The stolen funds were reportedly withdrawn in USDC and USDT before being moved through a series of transactions involving ETH swaps, instant exchanges, privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero (XMR), and cross-chain bridges. ZachXBT also suspects the actual amount stolen could be higher once over-the-counter (OTC) activity is taken into account. The identity of the attacker remains unknown. The investigator has also stated that the available laundering indicators point away from the North Korea-linked Lazarus Group. Meanwhile, Bitquery’s blockchain analysis t...