Bitget Hackers Shift $3.9 Million in Zcash Into a Private Pool

Wallets tied to the $387.5 million Bitget hack moved about $3.9 million in zcash (ZEC) into Zcash’s private payment system on Wednesday. This makes the funds harder to follow while the exchange works to recover them. Three transfers, sent between 08:15 and 08:46 UTC, put 2,746 ZEC into Ironwood, the network’s newest shielded pool.

How the Stolen Funds Were Traced

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT flagged the activity first. He said the money passed through two intermediary addresses funded by a wallet Bitget named as the attacker’s. That wallet received nearly 18,917 ZEC during the Sept. 24 breach. The three deposits equal roughly 15% of the stolen ZEC.

How Zcash Privacy Works

Zcash supports both public and private payments. The amount entering Ironwood is visible, but transfers inside the pool hide the sender, recipient and amount. If coins come back out to a public address, the exit amount becomes visible again. Investigators can match entry and exit points using timing, amounts and other metadata, but Zcash itself shows no trail linking the two.

Other Stolen Funds Moving Across Blockchains

Some proceeds went through swap services instead. About $6.3 million in ether-to-bitcoin swaps passed through THORChain from one attacker-linked wallet. Those swaps left a public record of the incoming ether and the outgoing bitcoin.