Bitcoin

OnchainLens Flags $1.83B Bitcoin Transfer From Lubian Hack Wallets

6 days ago
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According to OnchainLens, wallets linked to the infamous Lubian mining pool hack have just moved a massive 15,959 BTC, valued at $1.83 billion, to four separate Bitcoin addresses.

The transfers reignite questions surrounding Chen Zhi, the billionaire at the center of one of crypto’s largest embezzlement scandals, and whether these movements signal another rotation of sanctioned funds.

A $1.83 Billion Shuffle on the Bitcoin Network

At approximately 12:45 UTC, 15,959 BTC ($1.83B) was split across four major addresses. Each received thousands of coins, suggesting deliberate segmentation rather than liquidation.

Here’s the full breakdown of the on-chain movement:

  •  4,999 BTC ($539.76M) → Address bc1qs8…
  •  4,999 BTC ($539.76M) → Address 3JX2dH…
  •  3,424 BTC ($369.7M) → Address 1cpnxU…
  •  2,535 BTC ($274.36M) → Address 1G9FZS…

Blockchain data indicates the sender wallets belong to the same cluster that was tied to Lubian’s compromised mining pool accounts, long associated with Chen Zhi’s illicit empire.

Lubian’s 2020 “Hack” That Wasn’t a Hack

Back in 2020, Lubian positioned itself as one of China’s fastest-growing Bitcoin mining pools, controlling over 5% of the global hashrate.

Then, a major announcement hit: 127,426 BTC, worth roughly $1.1 billion at the time, had been “hacked” from its operational wallets.

The story later fell apart.

Investigations uncovered that there was no external hacker. The “attack” was a staged embezzlement scheme, orchestrated internally by Chen Zhi, founder of the Prince Group conglomerate.

Chen Zhi: Billionaire, Fraudster, and Global Sanction Target

Chen Zhi, often referred to as “Prince Chen”, rose from obscurity to build a multi-billion-dollar empire across Cambodia, China, and Southeast Asia. His holdings spanned real estate, banking, and crypto mining, all under the umbrella of the Prince Group.

By 2022, Chen was on the radar of U.S. Treasury investigators.

The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned Chen for large-scale money laundering, human trafficking, and corruption, effectively freezing all U.S.-linked financial channels.

When authorities traced Lubian’s missing Bitcoin, they discovered multiple wallet clusters controlled by shell companies tied to Chen. Using court-approved access and collaboration with exchange compliance teams, the U.S. successfully seized most of the embezzled BTC.

A Familiar Pattern: Wallet Rotation, Not Sale?

This latest movement, according to analysts, appears to be a wallet rotation rather than a sale or liquidation event.

Data shared by Arkham Intelligence supports that interpretation. None of the recipient wallets show any subsequent outbound transfers to exchanges or OTC desks, a sign the coins are likely being repositioned under new addresses to evade tracking.

“Chen Zhi-linked wallets are known to rotate funds through fresh Bitcoin addresses every few months,” Arkham Intelligence report, Oct 2025.

The practice allows sanctioned entities to obscure direct links to previously flagged wallets, a common tactic for individuals under financial watchlists.

OnchainLens Flags the Activity

The activity was first flagged by OnchainLens, an on-chain analytics dashboard that tracks dormant and high-risk wallet movements.

Their alert noted that all four transactions were broadcast within minutes of each other, with identical input structures, another indicator of automated consolidation or internal transfer.

OnchainLens team, via X (Twitter)

Bitcoin’s Market Impact

With the enormous scale of the transaction, the Bitcoin market today continues its decline.

At press time, BTC trades at $107k, according to CoinMarketCap, losing 4% of its value today.

Large whale movements, especially those linked to criminal networks, often raise fears of potential dumping or laundering attempts through OTC channels.

The Bigger Picture: Sanctions and Shadow Assets

The Lubian-ASI scandal highlights a recurring issue in global crypto enforcement, the gap between seizure and control.

Even when governments freeze or seize crypto wallets, recovery and management remain complex.

Private key access, jurisdictional overlaps, and third-party custodians can create blind spots where sanctioned individuals regain partial control.

In Chen Zhi’s case, the Prince Group’s web of shell entities across Singapore, Cambodia, and the British Virgin Islands has allowed him to keep maneuvering assets, including crypto.

Financial crime experts suggest the $1.83B transfer could be an attempt to pre-empt additional enforcement actions, possibly in coordination with upcoming OFAC crackdowns on cross-border crypto flows.

U.S. Authorities Yet to Respond

So far, neither the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) nor OFAC has issued a statement regarding the recent Lubian-related transfers.

However, law enforcement sources believe that Chen Zhi remains under active surveillance, with multiple ongoing investigations into the movement of his crypto holdings.

Given the size of this latest transaction, new actions, including wallet blacklisting or coordination with centralized exchanges, are likely.

If history is any guide, Chen Zhi’s crypto operations rarely stay silent for long.

In previous cycles, similar movements were followed by layered transfers, mixing attempts, or temporary staking deposits before funds resurfaced under new entities.

With 15,959 BTC now sitting across four untouched wallets, analysts expect further on-chain activity within days or weeks.

For now, the crypto community watches closely.

The $1.83 billion shuffle serves as another reminder that on-chain transparency never sleeps, even when billionaires try to.

Disclosure: This is not trading or investment advice. Always do your research before buying any cryptocurrency or investing in any services.

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Source: https://nulltx.com/onchainlens-flags-1-83b-bitcoin-transfer-from-lubian-hack-wallets/