- Bitfinex recovers cash and BCH from its stolen funds from US authorities
- The exchange said that this recovered amount still does not meet the current redemption demand
Bitfinex, a leading crypto exchange, has announced that it has received cash and Bitcoin Cash [BCH] of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The money returned comes from the August 2016 hacking incident. The US authorities took control of these funds in 2022, after the arrest of the two individuals accused of hacking the platform.
The hack was one of the biggest hacks in the crypto space at the time. Nearly 119,756 Bitcoin [BTC] was stolen from the exchange due to a security breach. These coins were worth $71.8 million at the time and are currently valued at over $3 billion. Bitfinex hackers had since moved the stolen crypto several times in an attempt to launder it.
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However, the perpetrators were caught by US authorities in February 2022 and identified as a married couple: Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan. Both suspects were from New York and were charged with conspiracy to commit money laundering.
The arrest also resulted in authorities seizing $3.6 billion in stolen cryptocurrency. Notably, this seizure placed the US government among the wealthiest Bitcoin wallets. Bitfinex Chief of Technology Officer – Paolo Ardoino – said,
“This particular seizure demonstrates the commitment of law enforcement officials to diligently track down all proceeds of the crime committed against Bitfinex nearly seven years ago.”
Bitfinex hack redemption
According to Bitfinex’s announcement, the exchange has recovered $312,219.71 in cash and 6,917 BCH. Ardoino stated that they “look forward to recovering as much of the stolen bitcoin as possible and redistributing it to holders of the tokens issued in response to the 2016 hack.”
Bitfinex had distributed Recovery Right Tokens [RTTs] to the victims of the hack, acting as an admission of guilt. The tokens can be exchanged for cash or iFinex capital at a later date. There are currently a total of 30 million RRTs in circulation and the exchange stated that the amount they currently recovered was not enough to meet all the redemptions.
In addition, “RRT holders must be redeemed for $1, after which up to 80 percent of all remaining recovered assets will be paid to UNUS SED LEO token holders,” said Bitfinex.