Crédit Mutuel Arkéa Crypto Theft: ZachXBT Cites $133M - Bitcoin Foundation

The alleged Crédit Mutuel Arkéa crypto theft had not been confirmed publicly by the bank.

ZachXBT said the total could be higher if over-the-counter trades are included.

Withdrawals from centralized exchange accounts stretched over several days.

The allegation puts a major European financial group at the center of a suspected theft, though how the funds were accessed remains unknown.

Tracing the Funds

ZachXBT flagged more than $106 million in suspicious withdrawals on November 2, initially describing the affected party as an unnamed European Union entity.

The funds left several centralized exchange accounts as USDC and USDT.

The next day, he added another $27 million in withdrawals, some made after his initial public warning.

ZachXBT later named Arkéa as the alleged victim and said the incident had unfolded over multiple days.

He expects the final amount could be higher once over-the-counter activity is included.

The bank has not confirmed a loss.

Cointelegraph said it had sought comment from Arkéa but received no response by publication.

Blockchain Analysis

Crédit Mutuel Arkéa had not issued a public statement about the alleged theft.

Arkéa is a cooperative banking group that includes the Crédit Mutuel de Bretagne and Crédit Mutuel du Sud-Ouest federations.

The group has about 40 subsidiaries, including online bank Fortuneo.

ZachXBT put Arkéa’s assets at $235 billion.

The bank has not confirmed its connection to the suspected theft.

Blockchain analytics firm Bitquery traced $108.8 million in USDC tied to the suspected theft.

The withdrawals came from Kraken, Crypto.com and OKX accounts over about 21 hours on November 1 and 2.

Bitquery also traced the conversion of $62.98 million in stablecoins into 27,553 ETH within roughly four hours.

ZachXBT’s estimate of more than $133 million covers the alleged losses he identified; he says OTC activity may add to the total.

Exchange Response and Next Steps

Kraken and Crypto.com told Cointelegraph they had restricted accounts or blocked funds linked to the suspected theft.

Both exchanges said their platforms remained secure.

Before naming Arkéa, ZachXBT said a large Western European financial institution had been exploited and questioned whether the incident was being covered up.

He argued that more than $30 million might have been frozen if the incident had been properly disclosed and EU law enforcement had acted.

That figure is ZachXBT’s estimate of funds that might have been stopped, not a confirmed recovery.

The Block said he had a “high degree of confidence” that the attacker was not associated with North Korea’s Lazarus Group.

He has not identified who carried out the suspected theft.