Kelp DAO cross-chain bridge hacker has laundered nearly $220 million in stolen funds, with only $1.7 million remaining untransferred

On June 2, according to The Defiant, approximately $220 million in unfrozen funds from the Kelp DAO cross-chain bridge attack have been almost entirely laundered by hackers. On-chain analysis by Arkham Intelligence shows that only about $1.7 million remains in the original attacker's wallet. This hacker, linked to North Korea, previously launched a $292 million cross-chain bridge attack against LayerZero in April. The funds were transferred through privacy tools such as THORChain, Wasabi, Tornado Cash, and Umbra. The approximately $71 million in Ethereum frozen by the Arbitrum security council on April 20 is currently the only recoverable portion. A report released by LayerZero on May 18 attributed the attack to the North Korean TraderTraitor organization. Kelp has recovered approximately 116,000 rsETH by migrating to Chainlink CCIP and through the DeFi United program, while the Aave safety module absorbed about $190 million in bad debt.