Bitget’s hackers turn to Zcash after $50 million laundering route gets blocked

Hackers behind Bitget’s $387.5 million breach are turning to Zcash's privacy features to hide the stolen funds as crypto firms increasingly block other escape routes.About 2,746 ZEC worth roughly $3.9 million was transferred Wednesday into Zcash’s Ironwood shielded pool through three transactions, according to on-chain activity flagged by blockchain investigator ZachXBT. The amount represents about 15% of the 18,917 ZEC stolen from the exchange.Bitget Attackers Fund Movement into Zcash's Shielded Pool (Source: ZachXBT)The transfers complicate Bitget’s recovery effort because transactions inside Ironwood can conceal senders, recipients, and amounts, breaking the public transaction trail investigators use to follow stolen assets. Deposits into the pool remain visible, but subsequent movements become considerably harder to link to their origin.The shift toward Zcash's privacy infrastructure follows attempts by the attackers to move substantially larger sums through cross-chain services, some of which have begun refusing the transactions.NEAR Intents General Manager Alex Shevchenko said wallets connected to the Bitget theft attempted to process more than $50 million through the protoco...