US Homeland Security returns $314K from 2016 Bitfinex hack.
According to an announcement on July 6, cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has received $312,219.71 in cash and 6.917 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) from the United States Department of Homeland Security. The seizure was carried out in collaboration with U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Bitfinex staff stated:
“This is part of Bitfinex’s ongoing efforts, working with law enforcement and other investigation agencies, to recover assets stolen from the exchange in August 2016. The U.S. government continues to make progress in prosecuting individuals involved in the Bitfinex security breach and in seizing funds associated with the theft.”
The assets will be returned on a pro-rated basis to victims of the 2016 Bitfinex hack. After the security breach, Bitfinex issued Recovery Rights Tokens (RRTs) with a par value of $1 each. Currently, there are 30 million RRTs in circulation. Once the recovered assets are used to redeem RRTs, the remaining funds will be paid to holders of Unus Sed Leo (LEO), Bitfinex’s native token.
In 2016, Bitfinex experienced a security breach that resulted in the loss of 119,576 customers’ Bitcoin (BTC), valued at around $70 million at the time and $3.7 billion now. On February 8, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice arrested two individuals, Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Morgan, for allegedly conspiring to launder cryptocurrency connected to the hack. Special agents were able to seize over 94,000 stolen BTC from Morgan and Lichtenstein after obtaining a search warrant that allowed access to files containing the private keys to the suspects’ wallet. Efforts to recover the funds are still ongoing.
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