US Security Returns $314K from 2016 Bitfinex Hack
Bitfinex gets back some stolen funds from 2016 hack, with U.S. government help. Recovery for victims continues.
Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex announced on July 6 that it got back $312,219.71 in cash and 6.917 Bitcoin Cash from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. U.S. Customs and Border Protection helped with this. Bitfinex said, "This is part of our work to get back the money stolen from us in 2016. The U.S. government is helping us by finding and punishing the criminals."
The money will be given back to the people who lost their money in the 2016 Bitfinex hack. After the hack, Bitfinex gave out Recovery Rights Tokens (RRTs), each worth $1, to its users. Right now, there are 30 million RRTs. After using the recovered money to buy back RRTs, the extra money will be given to those who have Unus Sed Leo, Bitfinex's own token.
In 2016, Bitfinex was hacked and lost 119,576 Bitcoin of its users. It was worth $70 million then, but it's worth $3.7 billion now. On Feb. 8, 2022, the U.S. government arrested two people, Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Morgan, for their alleged involvement in the hack. Agents were able to get back over 94,000 stolen Bitcoin from the couple. The hunt for the rest of the stolen money is still happening.
