Chinese Bitcoin Mining Giant Was Secretly Robbed of $14.5B

Blockchain investigator Arkham Intelligence revealed that Chinese Bitcoin mining pool LuBian lost 127,426 BTC, now valued at nearly $14.5 billion. The previously undisclosed December 2020 theft ranks as history’s largest crypto heist by dollar value, dwarfing both Mt. Gox and Bitfinex.

LuBian, once boasting 6% of Bitcoin’s global mining power, was looted of over 90% of its holdings on December 28, 2020. Hackers reportedly exploited LuBian's flawed private key algorithm, breaching wallets via a sophisticated brute-force attack to silently drain massive reserves.

The stolen fortune remains eerily dormant, with Arkham reporting no transactions from the thief's wallet since July of 2024. LuBian desperately embedded pleas via Bitcoin's blockchain OP_RETURN field, attempting over 1,500 costly transactions to communicate with the perpetrator directly.

Despite these extraordinary efforts, neither LuBian nor the anonymous attacker has publicly acknowledged the breach, deepening the mystery surrounding the incident. Currently, the hacker's dormant crypto wallet stands among Bitcoin’s richest, surpassing even the notorious Mt. Gox thief in sheer value.

Coinbase Surpasses Tesla in Bitcoin Treasury Rankings

Coinbase added 2,509 BTC to its treasury in Q2, bringing its total to 11,776 BTC and overtaking Tesla among public bitcoin holders. CEO Brian Armstrong said the firm is "long bitcoin," with holdings now worth $1.3 billion, yielding over $600 million in unrealized gains. Coinbase’s bitcoin is held on its corporate balance sheet, separate from client assets totaling over 880,000 BTC.

The company also announced plans to expand into tokenized stocks, prediction markets, and early token sales as part of its “everything exchange” strategy. Executives said Coinbase will compete with Robinhood, Kalshi, and Polymarket for US users. Despite a Q2 net income boost from ETF custody and Layer 2 fees, the stock fell 11.5% in pre-market trading after reporting a data breach and weak spot volumes.

CurveDAO Proposal Seeks to Halt Future L2 Expansion

A CurveDAO member proposed limiting future deployments of the decentralized exchange on Ethereum Layer 2 networks, citing high maintenance and low returns. The proposal argued that developer time is being stretched across fast-paced chains with little revenue contribution. Curve currently operates on 25 chains, but most of its $2.3 billion in TVL sits on Ethereum mainnet.

The member suggested Curve focus on Ethereum and its native stablecoin scrvUSD, which they claim generates far more value. While the proposal allows current L2 deployments to remain, it urges devs to stop expanding Curve’s presence across additional rollups. The proposal has sparked debate within the governance forum, though no official decision has yet been reached.

Satoshi Statue Recovered After Lake Vandalism in Switzerland

City officials in Lugano, Switzerland recovered a statue of Bitcoin creator Satoshi Nakamoto after it was pulled from its podium and dumped into a lake. The artwork, created by Italian artist Valentina Picozzi, had been installed by Satoshigallery and was one of three placed globally. A reward of 0.1 BTC was offered, though it's unclear whether it will be paid.

Social media users speculated that local youths were responsible, noting the statue had only two welded attachment points. Satoshigallery thanked authorities and has since launched a petition to reinstall the piece safely, gaining support from Tether’s CEO. The gallery still plans to complete its 21-statue series, with upcoming placements in several other crypto-friendly cities.

Data of the Day

US spot Bitcoin and Ethereum ETFs lost nearly $1 billion in total outflows, reversing July’s record-breaking inflows and signaling potential short-term cooling. BlackRock’s IBIT saw only $2.6 million in withdrawals, while other funds from Ark, Fidelity, Grayscale, and Bitwise each lost hundreds of millions. Analysts noted that no ETF received inflows, despite recent regulatory wins for the sector.

Ethereum ETFs mirrored the trend, with $152.3 million in outflows marking their fourth-worst day on record. Only BlackRock’s ETHA remained neutral, while Grayscale and Bitwise led the losses in ETH-linked products. New filings for Solana ETFs and staked crypto products continue to flood in, suggesting providers remain confident despite short-term volatility.

More Breaking News

• a16z’s Alex Rampell warns big banks are using “Chokepoint 3.0” tactics to restrict crypto access by inflating fees and blocking fintech integrations.
• Metaplanet filed to issue $3.7 billion in preferred shares by 2027 to fund its plan of accumulating 210,000 BTC for its Bitcoin treasury.
• UK regulators will allow retail investors to access crypto exchange-traded notes starting in October, reversing a 2021 ban on such financial products.
• Uniswap, a16z, and Solana allies urged the Senate to shield DeFi developers from burdensome regulations in new comments on the RFIA bill.
• Gate launched spot crypto trading in the USA, joining a rise of exchanges returning amid growing regulatory clarity and renewed US crypto momentum.
• Total crypto exchange volume hit $1.7 trillion in July, led by Binance at $683 billion, achieving the highest monthly activity since February 2025.
• PancakeSwap remained the top decentralized exchange in July, processing $188 billion in spot trades and generating over $430 million in fees.

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