#Hackers
On December 29, 2020, a sensational major case broke out in the crypto world: LuBian, the world's sixth-largest Bitcoin mining pool, fell victim to a hacker attack. Exploiting a private key vulnerability in LuBian, the hackers transferred 127,000 Bitcoins—worth $3.5 billion at the time and approximately $15 billion today.
The owner of these Bitcoins is Chen Zhi, Chairman of Cambodia Prince Group. After the theft of 127,000 Bitcoins, Chen Zhi issued multiple statements, shouting to the world: "Brave man, return my money—I’m open to negotiating a ransom!" However, once the 127,000 Bitcoins were transferred to another account, they lay dormant for three and a half years. This is not the modus operandi of hackers eager to cash out stolen funds; it is more like an organized state-sponsored hacking operation.
These Bitcoins remained inactive until June 2024. Between June 22 and July 23 of that year, the stolen Bitcoins were transferred to new on-chain addresses, where they have remained motionless to this day. But guess who owns these new addresses now? ARKHAM, a renowned U.S. blockchain tracking tool platform, has marked these final addresses as being held by the U.S. government.
What’s even more shocking is that in March this year, the White House directly issued an executive order establishing a "Strategic Bitcoin Reserve" specifically to house these "confiscated" coins, which now holds 200,000 Bitcoins. What’s the purpose here? It’s equivalent to building a national-level fishpond and declaring that all Bitcoin involved in global black markets are fish raised by America—they can fish whenever they want!
America’s dog-eat-dog tactics have formed a complete closed loop of technology-legal-opinion. Technologically, relying on its global network surveillance capabilities and top-tier hacking forces, the U.S. possesses precise attack capabilities targeting cryptocurrencies. Legally, it abuses civil forfeiture procedures and long-arm jurisdiction, casting covetous eyes on various black-market activities. Public opinion-wise, through controlling the narrative of mainstream media and inciting its global allies to talk up the issue, it packages state-sponsored plunder as cracking down on transnational crimes, while remaining completely silent about its own robberous nature!
In this regard, virtual currency is actually a joke. Back in the day, it was hailed as decentralized and capable of resisting interference from powerhouses. Little did people know that no matter the decentralized ideology, it would ultimately be wiped out by their so-called "central authority." As the saying goes, "dog eats dog, both get their mouths dirty"—in this black-eat-black scenario, no one is innocent.