US regulator to return $ 9.5 billion in bitcoins to Bitfinex crypto exchange

The U.S. government plans to return 94,643 BTC ($ 9,404,763,401 at the time of writing) out of 119,754 BTC stolen during a hacker attack in 2016 to the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange. The relevant decision is already under consideration by the court. If approved, the assets will be transferred to the exchange in their original form, along with the amounts in Bitcoin forks — Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Satoshi Vision, and Bitcoin Gold.

The hacker involved in the attack, Ilya Lichtenstein, was sentenced to five years in prison in 2024 for laundering stolen funds. His wife Heather Morgan, who assisted in the criminal operations, was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Both pleaded guilty and agreed to return the assets.

As of now, about 25,000 BTC remain inaccessible due to the difficulty of confiscating them, as these assets were laundered through unregulated exchanges, darknet markets, and other services. In October 2024, the court recognized Bitfinex as the only injured party in the case.

The court decision will become an important precedent in the fight against cybercrime in the future, confirming the possibility of recovering cryptocurrency assets even years after they were stolen.

Last year, on October 24, Arkham Intelligence experts recorded the movement of crypto assets worth about $ 20 million from a wallet allegedly linked to the US government. The virtual coins USDT, USDC, Ethereum, and AUSDC were transferred to another wallet and then sent to the N. Exchange and Switchain. Experts believe that this may indicate a hack.