In December 2020, hackers targeted the LuBian mining pool, extracting 127,426 BTC. At the time, the coins were valued at approximately $3.5 billion, a figure that has since surged to $14.5 billion. This revelation comes from analysts at Arkham Intelligence.
BREAKING: ARKHAM UNCOVERS $3.5B HEIST — THE LARGEST EVER
LuBian was a Chinese mining pool with facilities in China & Iran. Based on analysis of on-chain data, it appears that 127,426 BTC was stolen from LuBian in December 2020, worth $3.5 billion at the time and now worth… pic.twitter.com/PnIOKgMt0i
— Arkham (@arkham) August 2, 2025
Until the experts’ publication, neither LuBian representatives nor the hacker had publicly acknowledged the breach, despite the stolen amount being the largest loss in the industry’s history.
“The LuBian hack, during which assets worth $3.5 billion were stolen, became the largest in history. Due to the rise in BTC’s price since 2020, the current value of the stolen assets is $14.5 billion, making the hacker the 13th largest bitcoin holder on Arkham’s dashboard, surpassing the Mt. Gox hacker,” experts highlighted.
LuBian was one of the world’s largest mining pools in 2020, at one point controlling nearly 6% of the total bitcoin network hash rate. It operated in China and Iran. In February 2021, the platform abruptly shut down without explanation.
“It appears the [pool] was first hacked on December 28, 2020, stealing over 90% of their bitcoins. Then again on December 29, taking about $6 million,” Arkham stated.
Following the attack, LuBian sent on-chain messages to various hacker addresses, pleading for the return of the assets. The project spent 1.4 BTC sending 1516 transactions to communicate with the hacker.
According to the research, LuBian used a private key generation algorithm vulnerable to brute-force attacks. It is possible that hackers exploited this loophole.
The pool still holds the remaining 11,886 BTC, now valued at $1.35 billion. The criminals have not moved the coins since 2024.
In July 2025, Indian police launched an investigation into the theft of crypto assets worth $44 million from the CoinDCX exchange. According to the investigation, hackers accessed the company’s wallets through an employee’s laptop.