TL;DR
- Hackers linked to the $387.5 million theft at Bitget transferred 2,746 ZEC, equivalent to $3.9 million, to Ironwood, Zcash’s shielded pool.
- The three transfers represent approximately 15% of the total ZEC stolen and were executed within a 31-minute window on September 30, 2026.
- Researcher ZachXBT identified the movements and noted that the funds passed through two intermediary addresses before entering the private pool.
Zcash’s Ironwood shielded pool received 2,746 ZEC, movements that point to concealing funds stemming from the hack on Bitget. The transfers, equivalent to $3.9 million, entered the pool between 08:15 and 08:46 UTC in three separate transactions, according to transaction record analysis.
Researcher ZachXBT was the first to flag the movements that same Wednesday. According to his analysis, the funds arrived through two intermediary addresses funded by a wallet that Bitget identified as belonging to the attacker. That wallet had received nearly 18,917 ZEC during the September 24 breach, which generated losses of $387.5 million for the exchange.
ZEC Shielded in Ironwood
Zcash supports both public and private payments. Researchers can observe the amounts entering Ironwood, but once inside the shielded pool, the sender, recipient, and amount remain hidden.
If funds return to a public address, the amount leaving the pool becomes visible again, which allows entry and exit points to be compared using metadata such as timing and amounts. However, Zcash does not expose a transactional trail that directly links both ends of the transaction.
Funds Distributed Across Multiple Chains
The transfers executed to Ironwood represent approximately 15% of the stolen ZEC. The remaining funds have moved across different networks through other services.
Around $6.3 million in ETH-to-bitcoin swaps had previously been traced, executed through THORChain from a wallet linked to the attacker. Unlike the movements within Ironwood, those swaps left a public record of entry and exit amounts, making them easier for researchers to track.
