China is still in the process of investigating the mega crypto attack that had struck the LuBian Bitcoin mining pool in December 2020. In a fresh development, China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center has reportedly accused U.S. state hackers of having carried out the attack.
LuBian was once touted among the largest Bitcoin mining operations internationally. Its network was drained for BTC 127,272 – marking one of the largest crypto thefts ever recorded. At present, BTC is trading at $127,272 – based on which the valuation of the stolen BTC tokens amounts to a whopping $13.3 billion.
China’s National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center said that the movement of the stolen BTC tokens was gradual and cautious, which they said indicated that the attack was not criminal but government-planned.
As per the Bloomberg report, the Chinese cybersecurity agency has claimed that the U.S. government has justified holding the stolen BTC token under the pretense of having seized them from Chen Zhi. The chief of Cambodia’s Prince Group, Zhi was charged with crypto fraud and money laundering by the U.S. this year.
At present, attorney Matthew L. Schwartz is defending Chen and the Prince Group against the charges levied against them. Schwartz has reportedly said that his team has joined forces with crypto experts to trace the trajectory of the BTC funds that have been seized by the U.S. government and were apparently stolen in 2020.
The U.S. is yet to issue a public response to China’s allegations.
The countries have had a long-standing history of trade and tech wars. This year saw the nations go from locking horns politically to negotiating tariff deals owing to the mounting financial pressure on international markets.
Earlier this week, however, the U.S. Congressional Budget Office system was reportedly hacked and exposed sensitive internal communication. The U.S. suspects that Chinese state-backed hackers were responsible for carrying out this breach.