French bank Crédit Mutuel Arkéa confirms hackers moved about €100 million out of its own account and into crypto, as Paris prosecutors open a case

Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, a French banking group based near Brest, said on Wednesday evening that a cyberattack let hackers send fraudulent transfers from the bank's own account to other banks; the money was then converted into crypto through specialized platforms, AFP reported. The bank put the loss provisionally at about 100 million euros and said part of the funds has been blocked.

The Paris prosecutor's cybercrime section opened an investigation the same day after the group filed a complaint, AFP said. The bank said the attackers came in through a service provider's platform, not through customer accounts at its federations or subsidiaries, nor through its online bank Fortuneo, and it ruled out human error. Nobody has claimed responsibility.

Blockchain investigator ZachXBT had flagged the theft on November 2 and estimated losses at more than $133 million, a figure he said could rise, The Block reports. He traced USDC swapped into ether, funds routed through instant exchanges and some converted into Monero, and said he had a high degree of confidence that North Korea's Lazarus Group was not behind it. The bank did not confirm his figure but said the order of magnitude was right.

Arkéa said customer assets were untouched and the only effect was a delay to some transfers; almost all operations resumed during the morning. It said the amounts involved do not threaten its financial strength. The group reports total assets of 211.5 billion euros and more than 5.8 million members and customers.