An elderly US citizen has become the victim of a staggering $330 million Bitcoin theft, marking the fifth-largest crypto hack in history. The crime, executed on April 28, 2025, involved advanced social engineering tactics to compromise the victim's wallet. Following the transfer of 3,520 Bitcoin, valued at about $330.7 million, the stolen funds were rapidly laundered through over 300 wallets and 20 exchanges using the peel chain method, a technique that breaks large amounts into smaller, harder-to-trace chunks. Investigators noted that after laundering, only around $60 million remained from the original sum, with significant portions of the stolen Bitcoin converted into Monero, a privacy coin that makes tracing difficult. The attacker's sophisticated laundering processes suggest a high degree of premeditation, with experts unable to definitively link the crime to known hacker groups. Recommendations for preventing such incidents include minimizing exposure to hot wallets and utilizing hardware-based cold storage for large Bitcoin holdings.

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