Crédit Mutuel Arkéa, a French banking group, announced that nearly all of its services were back online on Wednesday after a cyberattack that appears to have involved the theft of funds from the bank’s own account and subsequent conversion into cryptocurrency. The bank said customer deposits remain safe, but the breach caused delays in certain transfers while the firm conducts security checks and implements additional safeguards.

How the breach unfolded

According to Cointelegraph, attackers gained entry through a service‑provider platform rather than through Arkéa’s online banking subsidiary Fortuneo. Once inside, they moved the bank’s money to external financial institutions, a step that likely facilitated conversion into crypto assets. The first public clues emerged when withdrawals from crypto exchanges were flagged, prompting blockchain analytics firm Bitquery to trace the flow of funds.

Crypto‑exchange involvement

On‑chain sleuth ZachXBT identified more than $106 million in suspicious withdrawals on Monday and later raised the estimate to over $133 million after uncovering an additional $27 million. His analysis linked the outflows to accounts at Kraken, Crypto.com and OKX. Both Kraken and Crypto.com confirmed they had restricted or blocked the relevant accounts but maintained that their platforms remain secure.

Bank response and next steps

Arkéa confirmed the incident, stating that some of the stolen funds have been frozen and recovery efforts are ongoing. While the bank declined to verify the exact loss figures, it described the scale as “approximate.” The institution emphasized that customer funds were unaffected and that it is continuing to assess the financial impact of the attack.

What to watch next

Regulators may scrutinize the role of third‑party service providers in banking security, and further forensic analysis could reveal additional crypto destinations for the stolen assets. Observers will also watch for any legal action against the exchanges involved and for updates from Arkéa on the final loss assessment and remediation measures.