Bitget Hacker Moves Stolen Zcash Into Private Pool — About…
By Karthik Subramanian
AI summary of the source article
The attacker responsible for Bitget's revised $387.5 million exploit has transferred approximately $3.8 million in stolen Zcash into the network's shielded pool. By utilizing zero-knowledge proofs, the shielded pool breaks simple address-to-address public visibility, making tracking more complex for investigators. The movement represents about 1% of Bitget's total losses from the September 24 incident, which GoPlus attributed to a compromised transaction-signing trust chain. While cross-chain infrastructure like NEAR Intents blocked over $50 million and froze $503,000, Zcash's blockchain-level privacy presents distinct tracing challenges because it operates without centralized intermediaries capable of freezing transactions.
Why it matters
Moving stolen assets into Zcash's shielded pool breaks standard onchain transaction trails without relying on centralized intermediaries that can freeze funds. This complicates recovery and investigation efforts even as other crypto infrastructure providers successfully block routing attempts.
Key facts
- Approximately $3.8 million of stolen Zcash was transferred into Zcash's privacy-preserving shielded pool.
- Bitget revised its total loss from the September 24 exploit from $351.6 million to $387.5 million.
- NEAR Intents rejected attempts to route over $50 million linked to the attacker and froze approximately $503,000.