Kraken Locks Accounts as Suspected EU Crypto Theft Tops $133M

> Kraken has restricted accounts and is working with law enforcement after assets from a suspected EU crypto theft allegedly moved through its platform. Onchain investigator ZachXBT now puts the damage above $133 million, and the number keeps climbing. Crypto.com says it also stepped in to block linked funds.

Kraken has locked down accounts tied to a suspected European crypto theft, confirming it's investigating whether stolen assets flowed through its platform. The exchange told Cointelegraph the incident didn't start on its turf and that it's working with law enforcement to support recovery. ZachXBT now sizes the suspected haul at more than $133 million.

Kraken says its own defenses held: no security systems compromised, no customer accounts taken over. But it won't say how many accounts got restricted or how much is frozen, leaving the size of the recovery pot unclear.

The tally keeps moving. In a Nov. 3 Telegram update, ZachXBT said he'd spotted another $27 million-plus in withdrawals from centralized exchanges, some of them made after his first disclosure. His Nov. 2 alert flagged a suspected loss above $106 million, drained from multiple exchange accounts on Nov. 1. He still hasn't named the EU entity at the center of it.

Crypto.com moved too. The exchange told Cointelegraph it blocked funds linked to the third-party incident from moving through its platform, adding that it stayed operational and that user funds were secure and accessible.

Some of the money is harder to grab than the rest. In an Ethereum-only analysis, blockchain analytics firm Bitquery found $62.98 million in stablecoins swapped into ETH in about four hours — and ETH has no issuer that can freeze it. Bitquery also reported that Tether had frozen 1.14 million USDT tied to the incident as of its Nov. 3 snapshot, but that freeze didn't immobilize the ETH parked at the same address.