When Hackers Met Crypto: A $140M Brazilian Heist Turned Digital

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What to know:

  • Hackers laundered a tidy sum of $30 million–$40 million from the $140 million they stole from the Central Bank of Brazil’s service provider, using crypto through Latin American OTC desks and exchanges. 🤑
  • The attackers, with the charm of a village swindler, bribed an employee for credentials, affecting six financial institutions on June 30, including BMP. 🕵️‍♂️
  • The incident, as predictable as a rainy day in Moscow, reflects a broader trend, with $2.5 billion lost to crypto hacks and scams in the first half of 2025, according to CertiK. 📉

A group of hackers, with the finesse of a cat burglar in a comedy, gained unauthorized access to the Central Bank of Brazil’s service provider and has started laundering a portion of its $140 million haul using cryptocurrencies, according to on-chain analyst ZachXBT. 🐱‍💻

The researcher, no doubt with a cup of tea and a sigh, revealed on Friday that between $30 million and $40 million of the stolen funds was converted to bitcoin, ether, and Tether’s USDT through Latin American over-the-counter desks and crypto exchanges. 🤑

The June 30 cyberattack on C&M Software involved a group of attackers, as cunning as a fox in a henhouse, bribing an employee into revealing their corporate credentials. Six financial institutions, including BMP, experienced unauthorized access to their reserve accounts as a result. 🚨

The method, as old as the hills, mirrors a recent cyberattack on crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN), which said that 69,000 customers were affected after customer service agents were bribed into revealing customer information. 🤷‍♂️

Brazil, once warming up to crypto like a cat to a warm hearth, had lawmakers in February propose a bill to allow investment funds to gain exposure in digital assets. 🇧🇷

While the Central Bank of Brazil attack involved fiat currency, the use of cryptocurrency to conceal and launder the funds is an example of the industry’s dark truth when it comes to hacks and scams. 🌑

A recent report by crypto security firm CertiK revealed that crypto investors lost $2.5 billion to hacks and scams in the first half of 2025. A sobering reminder that in the world of crypto, not all that glitters is gold. 💰

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2025-07-04 18:20