{"id":128106,"date":"2025-04-28T10:16:04","date_gmt":"2025-04-28T10:16:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/?p=128106"},"modified":"2025-04-28T10:16:04","modified_gmt":"2025-04-28T10:16:04","slug":"zachxbt-flags-suspicious-330m-bitcoin-transfer-triggering-monero-surge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/?p=128106","title":{"rendered":"ZachXBT flags suspicious $330M Bitcoin transfer triggering Monero surge"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: Cointelegraph.com NewsOnchain sleuth ZachXBT has flagged a suspicious transfer involving 3,520 Bitcoin (BTC) (valued at $330.7 million) that may indicate a major theft. The transaction, reported on April 28, saw funds moved from a potential victim\u2019s wallet to the address bc1qcry…vz55g.
\nFollowing the transfer, the stolen stash was quickly laundered through over six instant exchanges and swapped into privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero (XMR).
\nThe large-scale conversion led to a sharp 50% spike in XMR\u2019s price, with the token reaching an intraday high of $339, according to data from CoinMarketCap.
\nSource: ZachXBTAt the time of writing, XMR has settled slightly but remains up 25% in the past 24 hours, trading at $289.
\nWhen asked whether North Korea\u2019s Lazarus Group was behind the attack, ZachXBT dismissed the theory, stating it was \u201chighly probable it\u2019s not,\u201d suggesting independent hackers were responsible.
\nRelated: Kraken to end Monero support in European Economic Area
\nVast majority of hackers use mainstream cryptos
\nIn a recent comment to Cointelegraph, Chainalysis noted that most criminal transactions still rely on mainstream cryptocurrencies.
\n\u201cWhile there are concerns of more criminals moving to privacy coins for anonymity, the vast majority of criminal activity still uses mainstream cryptocurrencies, such as Bitcoin, Ethereum and stablecoins,\u201d Chainalysis said.
\nThe firm added that these assets remain attractive because they offer the same benefits to bad actors as they do to legitimate users \u2014 cross-border functionality, instant settlement, and high liquidity.
\nChainalysis noted that privacy coins pose limitations for criminals due to reduced liquidity and the fact that many major exchanges have delisted assets like Monero.
\n\u201cCryptocurrency is only useful if you can buy and sell goods and services or cash out into fiat, and that is much more difficult with privacy coins, especially as many mainstream exchanges have offboarded the use of privacy coins, such as Monero,\u201d they explained.
\nThe firm even said that blockchain transparency allows law enforcement to trace and recover illicit funds, regardless of the cryptocurrency used.
\nIn 2024, a leaked Chainalysis video suggested that Monero\u00a0transactions could be traceable despite the privacy-preserving nature of the blockchain.
\nThe video reportedly showed how Chainalysis could track transactions back to 2021 via its own \u201cmalicious\u201d Monero nodes.
\nRelated: The IRS offers a $625,000 bounty to anyone who can break Monero and Lightning Network
\nMonero accepted at Spar stores in Switzerland
\nThe suspected laundering operation comes as Monero is gaining wider retail acceptance. Two Spar supermarket locations in Switzerland recently began accepting XMR for payments.
\nThe announcement, shared by Monero\u2019s official X account, credits partnerships with DFX Swiss and OpenCryptoPay for enabling the integration.
\nOne user, posting on April 25, shared their experience of purchasing organic cacao using XMR at a Spar store in Kreuzlingen.
\nUser paying for goods with Monero. Souce: SchmidtIn April 2025, Spar first tapped into the crypto market by introducing Bitcoin payments through the Lightning Network at outlets in Zug, Switzerland.
\nMagazine: Bitcoin $100K hopes on ice, SBF\u2019s mysterious prison move: Hodler\u2019s Digest, April 20 \u2013 26Read More<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: Cointelegraph.com NewsOnchain sleuth ZachXBT has flagged a suspicious transfer involving 3,520 Bitcoin (BTC) (valued at $330.7 million) that may indicate a major theft. The transaction, reported on April 28,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128106"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=128106"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128106\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=128106"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=128106"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cryptospotters.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=128106"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}