Largest Hack in History? Coinbase Exec Reveals Why the 80,000 Bitcoin Transfer Was Likely a Hack

A Coinbase executive shed new light on the recent $8 billion Bitcoin transfer yesterday, a twist that might set a new heist record. Conor Grogan, Coinbase’s head of product, sparked fresh speculations about the July 4 Bitcoin transfer in a tweet , suggesting the transfer might be beyond a whale casually relocating his stash. Specifically, he noted that there is a small chance that the $8.6 billion worth of Bitcoin moved yesterday might have been compromised. Suspicious Test Raises Alarm For context, several wallets containing 10,000 BTC awoke yesterday after being dormant for over 14 years, with their sequence raising eyebrows. Notably, Lookonchain confirmed that it was a Bitcoin OG who was moving his stash. About 8 wallets were tied to the whale, each containing 10,000 BTC. Particularly, the whale moved all bitcoins to 8 new addresses, which still hold the stash at the time of writing. Nonetheless, Grogan highlighted a few reasons why the move might not have come from the account’s original owner. For one, the Coinbase exec said he discovered a singular test transaction on the Bitcoin Cash network from one of the whales, followed by the full amount. This meant that the transaction was to test the private keys quietly on the BCH network, which attracted less attention than on Bitcoin . Further details reveal that the test transaction involved 10,000 BCH, worth approximately $4.9 million at the time.

After a successful test, the whale moved its first 10,000 BTC ($1.09 billion) from the “12tLs9” before shifting from all other 7 wallets linked to the owner, totaling 80,009 BTC ($8.6 billion). Grogan Highlights Strange Move Moreover, Grogan shared that the other BCH wallets affiliated with the BTC whale remain untouched, aside from the one involved in the test transaction. As a result, he questioned why the owner had not moved them if his intention was simply to relocate his Bitcoin stash to new addresses. Grogan ruled out the possibility it was an exchange wallet or an institution moving their stash due to the BCH test transaction. He also highlighted that the whale moved the stash manually, further suggesting it was an individual. Nonetheless, he stressed that he was “speculating on straws here” and had not confirmed his suspicions. But if it is right, the BTC theft would be the largest heist in human history. Remarkably, it would trounce the Bybit hack , which currently stands as the largest dollar-worth heist in crypto history. Recall that hackers drained $1.5 billion from Bybit in February and have completely moved the looted funds.