Ripple News: $150M XRP Theft Linked to LastPass Hack
Ripple Co-Founder's $150 Million XRP Theft Linked to LastPass Hack: ZachXBT
Larsen confirmed the incident in January, clarifying that the hack only affected his personal accounts and not Ripple's corporate wallets.
Posted by Shaurya Malwa | Edited by: Parikshit Mishra Updated: March 8, 2025 12:00 UTC Published: March 8, 2025 11:18 UTC
What you need to know:
- The theft of $150 million from Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen's wallet was linked to a security vulnerability in the LastPass password manager, according to a forfeiture complaint filed by U.S. law enforcement.
- Hackers gained access to Larsen's private keys stored at LastPass, which suffered a major breach in 2022 that resulted in the theft of encrypted customer password stores and unencrypted metadata for approximately 25 million users.
- The effects of the LastPass hack are still being felt: as of May 2024, cryptocurrency losses associated with the breach amount to at least $250 million.
The $150 million theft of Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen stems from a security vulnerability in the LastPass password manager, according to a forfeiture complaint filed by U.S. law enforcement on March 6 and noted by blockchain detective ZachXBT.
ZachXBT reported that the document details how Larsen's private keys (or code to access tokens) were stored in LastPass, a popular password manager that suffered a major breach in 2022.
At the time, hackers stole source code and technical data by gaining access to a developer account. By November of that year, they had used that access to breach the cloud storage system, stealing encrypted customer password stores and unencrypted metadata for about 25 million users.
Although the “vaults” were encrypted, weak or reused master passwords could be brute-forced, resulting in the disclosure of stored data.
Hackers exploited the vulnerability, gained access to Larsen's keys, and stole XRP, which was worth $150 million at the time of the theft and more than $600 million at Saturday's prices.
“A forfeiture affidavit filed yesterday by US law enforcement revealed that the hack of Ripple co-founder Chris Larsen’s wallet worth approximately $150 million (283 million XRP) in January 2024 was due to the storage of private keys in LastPass (a password manager that was hacked in 2022),” ZachXBT wrote on his Telegram channel.
“Until this point, Chris Larsen has not publicly disclosed the reasons for the theft,” he added.
Larsen confirmed the incident in January, clarifying that the hack affected only his personal accounts and not Ripple's corporate wallets. He has yet to comment publicly on the seizure notice.
The fallout from the 2022 LastPass breach has been significant and continues to be felt. In December, The Security Alliance (SEAL), a group of cybersecurity experts focused on the cryptocurrency market, estimated that cryptocurrency losses related to the incident had reached at least
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