A cyberattack that stole approximately ₹29,000 crore ($3.5 billion) from LuBian, once among the largest Bitcoin mining pools, has been exposed, marking what may be the single largest recorded Bitcoin hack in history. The breach, dating back to December 2020, remained undetected until recent blockchain forensic work revealed the scale of the fraud.
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Massive Breach of High-Profile Mining Pool
On December 28, 2020, hackers infiltrated LuBian’s internal systems and transferred over 90% of its Bitcoin holdings. At the time, LuBian handled nearly 6% of the global Bitcoin network’s total hash rate. A follow-up attack the next day stripped approximately ₹50 crore ($6 million) in Bitcoin and USDT from an address operating on the Bitcoin Omni layer, indicating detailed knowledge of LuBian’s infrastructure and multi-asset holdings.
Four Years of Silence Before Public Discovery
Despite the enormous scale of the losses, the incident slipped beneath the radar for more than four years. It was only recently that Arkham, a blockchain intelligence firm, published a detailed report warning about the loss. The findings highlight broader risks within crypto mining, where transparency can be limited and breaches go unreported.
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Damage Control and Broader Industry Implications
LuBian reportedly moved remaining funds to a recovery wallet on December 31, 2020, but by then, most of its Bitcoin reserves had already been compromised. The firm’s delayed disclosure and lack of transparency raise serious governance questions for cryptocurrency infrastructure providers.
Mining pools act as central hubs in the Bitcoin ecosystem, pooling resources on behalf of thousands of individual miners. A successful breach of this magnitude illustrates systemic vulnerabilities and the potential for similar undisclosed exploits in other entities across the sector.
Industry Responses and Ongoing Risk
Security experts have called for stronger auditing, more frequent on-chain verification, and mandatory breach notification protocols for mining pools. Many noted that if such a large-scale theft remained hidden for years, smaller or decentralised operations could suffer unnoticed losses too.
The LuBian case serves as a stark reminder of the evolving complexity and high stakes in the world of cryptocurrency and the urgent need for more robust security and accountability in mining infrastructure.
