Privacy blockchain Monero (XMR) jumped 51% on Monday—and on-chain investigators pointed to hackers laundering $330 million in stolen Bitcoin as the likely culprit.

Early on Monday, on-chain sleuth ZachXBT highlighted a “suspicious transfer” made from a “potential victim” of 3,520 BTC (worth approximately $333 million). Soon after, the funds were swapped to XMR via multiple exchanges. ZachXBT believes this was “theft” due to the high fees paid and the suspicious activity once the funds had been moved.

The investigator later added that it is “highly probable” the attack didn’t originate from North Korea and that the victim was a longtime Bitcoin holder. 

In response, XMR jumped 51% to a price of $347.72 in seven hours, before retracing. At time of publication, Monero is priced at $264.18, up 15.3% on the day, according to CoinGecko. 

Monero and privacy

Monero is the biggest privacy coin with a $5.3 trillion market cap, ranking as the 27th largest cryptocurrency by market capitalization. 

Where regular blockchains, like Bitcoin and Ethereum, allow users to view every transaction that has happened on the network—enabling the tracking of funds through wallets—Monero uses a variety of technologies to obfuscate wallet addresses and transactions. As a result, it has become a popular network for malicious actors to hide their tracks on. 

In 2020, the IRS offered $625,000 to firms aiming to “crack” Monero’s privacy, subsequently inking deals with blockchain tracing firm Chainalysis and data forensics analysis firm Integra FEC.

There have been cases of criminal Monero users being convicted, despite the network’s stringent privacy.

Last summer, British dark web drug dealer Jack Edward Finney was convicted and his Monero tokens seized. However, the seizure wasn’t due to the police cracking the network, but because Finney transferred the funds to the investigator as part of a confiscation order. UK officials later sold the tokens in what was described by prosecutors as the first UK Monero cryptocurrency payout.

In January 2024, it was reported by local Finnish media that Finland’s National Bureau of Investigation (KRP) had successfully tracked transcations made using Monero. However, a former member of the MAGIC Monero Fund committee, Csilla Brimer, told Decrypt that this wasn’t the whole truth. Instead, she said, investigations were likely able to trace some transcations because of poor operational security from the user. 

“If you’re not careful with your operational security and you keep switching between Bitcoin and Monero, you might leak some information,” Brimer told Decrypt. “Regulators might use this slip-up to claim they can track Monero.”

“Monero is very solid at guarding your transaction details, but it can’t save you from slip-ups in your own security habits,” she added.

Prominent technology investor Cathie Wood’s Ark Invest released an updated Bitcoin price target, outlining a path for the top cryptocurrency to reach a price of as much as $2.4 million per coin by 2030. 

Released on Thursday, the latest report levels up Ark’s previous price predictions from its annual Big Ideas report, which used total addressable markets (TAM) and penetration rate assumptions to determine a price prediction for Bitcoin. 

Now, the firm combined its previous predictions with experimental modeling that considers Bitcoin’s “active” supply—which discounts lost or long-held coins. 

“Bitcoin’s network liveliness has remained near ~60% since early 2018. In our view, that magnitude of liveliness suggests that ~40% of supply is ‘vaulted,’” the report reads. “On that basis, we arrive at the following price targets, which are roughly 40% higher than our base model, which does not account for Bitcoin active supply and network liveliness”

When accounting for active supply, Ark Invest predicts a bear case—or the most negative view—of around $500,000 per BTC. The bull case? A Bitcoin price of $2.4 million per coin.

Contributing to its potential growth, the report highlights the major inputs for its TAM and penetration rate data, which include its standing as a “digital gold,” institutional investment in spot ETFs, emerging market investors seeking a safe haven asset, and corporate treasuries continuing to diversify with Bitcoin.

Ark is not the only Bitcoin proponent to suggest a price appreciation above $1 million per coin. In September Strategy Chairman and co-founder Michael Saylor predicted the leading crypto asset would reach $13 million per coin over the next 21 years. In January, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said he thinks it will reach the “multiple millions price range” as well. 

Bitcoin topped $95,000 for the first time in two months earlier Friday, but still remains down from its all-time peak price of nearly $109,000 set in January.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

A hacker who drained nearly $5 million from Ethereum scaling protocol ZKsync’s airdrop contract has returned the stolen funds within the project’s 72-hour deadline, closing the chapter on the recent exploit.

“We’re pleased to share that the hacker has cooperated and returned the funds within the safe harbor deadline,” ZKsync posted on X, formerly Twitter. “The case is now considered resolved.”

The recovered assets, consisting of over 44.6 million ZK tokens and nearly 1,800 ETH, are now under the custody of the ZKsync Security Council, which will determine the next steps via governance. 

The deal follows an exploit that took place earlier this week, targeting a “compromised key” behind the ZK token airdrop contract, which allowed the attacker to mint new tokens and reroute unclaimed funds. 

The attacker then transferred the funds across both Ethereum and ZKsync’s own Layer 2 network.

“All user funds are safe and have never been at risk,” ZKsync said in a Tuesday post. “The ZKsync protocol and ZK token contract remained secure.”

The protocol responded later by issuing an on-chain message offering the attacker a 10% bounty if 90% of the funds were returned within 72 hours. 

If the offer was ignored, ZKsync warned the hacker that the case would be escalated to law enforcement to pursue a “full criminal investigation.”

The ZK token’s price briefly plunged to $0.04 after the exploit but has since stabilized near $0.05, down 2.6% over the last 24 hours, according to CoinGecko data.

Following the return of the stolen funds, ZKsync said that a final investigation report is in the works and will be published once complete.

Hackers abound

The incident is the latest in a string of attacks plaguing the crypto sector this year. According to blockchain security firm Immunefi, nearly $1.6 billion in crypto has already been stolen in the first two months of the year. 

A separate report from blockchain security firm CertiK paints an equally concerning picture, noting that the first quarter of the year saw a loss of $1.67 billion due to hacks, scams, and exploits, already accounting for over two-thirds of all stolen funds in 2024. 

Much of this total was driven by the catastrophic Bybit exploit, which alone resulted in $1.45 billion in losses and has raised industry-wide concerns about centralized exchange security practices.

Private key compromises continued to dominate as a critical threat vector, responsible for $142.3 million in losses across just 15 incidents. 

Alarmingly, only 0.38% of stolen funds were recovered this quarter, down from over 42% in the previous quarter. In February alone, not a single dollar was returned, the report said.

Meanwhile, Ethereum remained the most targeted, suffering nearly $1.54 billion in theft across 98 incidents. 

Edited by Sebastian Sinclair