China accuses US of stealing $13 billion in bitcoin hack: Bloomberg

China’s cybersecurity agency has accused the U.S. government of orchestrating a $13 billion bitcoin theft, according to a Bloomberg report published Tuesday.

The agency accused the U.S. of pilfering more than 120,000 bitcoin from the Chinese-based LuBian mining pool in December 2020 — the same incident Arkham Intelligence identified in August as one of the largest crypto heists on record.

The Chinese National Computer Virus Emergency Response Center described the incident as a “state-level hacker operation” likely led by the U.S., adding that the “quiet and delayed movement” of the stolen bitcoin suggested government involvement rather than typical criminal behavior.

The mining pool, which launched in April 2020, quickly grew to become the sixth-largest on the Bitcoin network before shutting down after the hack wiped out most of its holdings, according to Arkham.

Bloomberg said the Chinese report linking the U.S. to the LuBian theft was first published last week. China’s agency further claimed the stolen bitcoin is tied to tokens seized by the U.S. in its case against Chinese national Chen Zhi, who faces charges of wire fraud and money laundering.

“The U.S. government may have already used hacking techniques as early as 2020 to steal the 127,000 bitcoin held by Chen Zhi,” the Chinese report said, calling it a “classic ‘black eats black’ operation orchestrated by a state-level hacking organization.”