French bank Crédit Mutuel Arkéa have confirmed a major cyberattack as investigators trace a suspected $126 million crypto trail.
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Key Takeaways
Crédit Mutuel Arkéa says attackers accessed its own account through a service provider, with customer balances unaffected.
Bitquery traced $126 million in USDC withdrawals associated with the suspected theft.
The investigation follows other major crypto thefts and a rise in physical attacks.
French banking group Crédit Mutuel Arkéa has confirmed a cyberattack involving its own money, as blockchain investigators follow a suspected $126 million crypto trail through exchanges and hundreds of wallets.
The bank’s Wednesday announcement describes attackers moving funds through other financial institutions, potentially allowing them to convert the proceeds into digital assets.
As Paris prosecutors open an investigation, the case has raised already bubbling concerns about the wave of fraudulent bank transfers reaching crypto platforms — and how much can still be recovered.
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French Bank Confirms Attack but Leaves Final Loss Unresolved
In its detailed statement, Arkéa said attackers reached the bank through an external provider’s platform.
It explicitly rejected reports that its online banking subsidiary Fortuneo provided the entry point.
Asked whether €118 million, around $133 million, had been stolen, the bank declined to confirm the precise figure.
“We do not confirm this information and can only validate the order of magnitude,” its English-language statement said.
Some funds have been blocked, and further recovery work continues, while the bank has not identified the compromised provider or attackers.
Arkéa’s initial announcement said customer assets were protected, although some transfers were delayed.
The group also warned customers about possible follow-up phishing attempts.
Investigators Follow $126M Through Crypto Exchanges
A Nov. 5 investigation by Bitquery traced around $126.04 million in USDC withdrawn from accounts at Kraken, Crypto.com and OKX over 28 hours on Nov. 1 and 2.
The analytics company followed the suspected proceeds into 526 wallets.
Bitquery found that around $37.26 million remained on Ethereum in addresses it associated with the attacker.
The firm also identified approximately $1.14 million in USDT that Tether froze.
Its updated total also remains below investigator ZachXBT’s estimate, which exceeds $133 million, and the difference has not yet been fully reconciled.
Crypto.com and OKX separately told CoinDesk that they had intervened to restrict funds or accounts linked to the incident.
Binance Theft Highlights Recovery Challenge
The investigation follows one of the biggest hacks in crypto history, as Binance was breached and lost approximately $6.3 billion in cryptocurrency.
As CCN reported, token issuers and other industry participants helped immobilize substantial amounts of stolen assets.
However, freezing funds does not automatically return them to their owner, as recovery can require a myriad of legal proceedings and coordination.
Investigators tracking Binance-linked funds found affected crypto across over 12,000 wallets and 11 blockchains.
The bank attack also arrives against a backdrop of physical crimes targeting crypto holders.
In September, Jameson Lopp released an interactive attack map that documented 68 publicly reported incidents in France, compared with 59 in the US and 24 in the UK.
The database included kidnappings, home invasions, and other physical attacks aimed at obtaining cryptocurrency.
The UK ranked third globally for violent crypto crimes. | Source: Bitcoin Wrench Attacks
Although the UK ranked highly on the map, France remains the worst-affected area for physical crypto theft in 2026.
Lopp’s data showed that 41 attacks occurred in France during the first nine months of 2026, almost three times the recorded number over the equivalent period in 2025.
French Interior Minister Laurent Nuñez said authorities had documented 77 linked kidnapping or attempted-extortion incidents during the first half of the year.
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Kurt Robson is a London-based reporter at CCN, specialising in the fast-moving worlds of crypto and emerging technology. He began his career covering local news in Cornwall after graduating from Falmouth University with First Class Honours in Journalism. There, he cut his teeth on everything from council meetings to missing swans.
He quickly rose through the ranks to become a frontline journalist at several of the UK’s leading national newspapers. Over the years, he has interviewed musicians and celebrities, reported from courtrooms and crime scenes, and secured multiple front-page exclusives.
Following the upheaval of the COVID-19 pandemic, Kurt shifted his focus to technology journalism—just ahead of the AI boom. With a natural curiosity and a trained eye for emerging trends, he has found a new rhythm in reporting on innovation.
At CCN, Kurt's work focuses on the cutting edge of crypto, blockchain, AI, and the evolving digital world. Drawing on his background in people-first reporting and his deep interest in disruptive tech, Kurt delivers stories that are insightful, entertaining, and human-centric.
