EU Entity Suspected Of Losing $106M From Exchange Accounts, ZachXBT Says

On-chain investigator ZachXBT has reported that an unnamed organization based in the European Union is suspected of losing more than $106 million from multiple centralized exchange accounts on Nov. 1, according to Decrypt and Phemex. The funds were withdrawn as USDC and USDT stablecoins by what ZachXBT called an "illicit actor." Until a victim or exchange confirms the loss, the $106 million remains ZachXBT's estimate of a suspected theft. According to ZachXBT, the actor spent the following 24 hours moving the money through several layers. USDC was swapped for ETH, funds were sent through instant exchange services including WellWallet and Kyrrex, some were converted to Monero via a service called Wagyu, and assets were bridged across multiple blockchains. Monero hides the sender, receiver and amount, so the trail effectively goes dark once funds arrive there. The method of compromise has not been disclosed. ZachXBT published 11 Ethereum addresses tied to the theft for community tracking, including 0xADd95cD98E0288ba69785E3151E1db86adF8Dd58 on Ethereum. The post does not name the victim or the exchanges, and the split between USDC and USDT within the $106 million figure has not been given. ZachXBT said with a high degree of confidence that the actor is not North Korea's Lazarus Group, citing laundering indicators he did not set out in the post, so that attribution rests on his own assessment for now. According to Cryptopolitan, investigators have shared eleven addresses linked to the theft, but it remains unlikely that the money will be recovered. It is unclear whether any funds in the case have been frozen. Readers can reduce exposure to account-level compromises by enabling hardware-key or app-based two-factor authentication on exchange accounts and using withdrawal address allowlists and withdrawal delays where offered. Organizations should limit API key permissions and spread holdings across custody arrangements. Treat early loss figures from investigators as estimates until confirmed by the victim or exchanges.