Details on the US Cryptocurrency Reserve Become Known

Alex Thorne, head of research at Galaxy Research, said that out of 198,000 bitcoins controlled by the US authorities, only 86,000 can be included in the national cryptocurrency reserve. Alex Thorne clarified that the remaining 112,000 BTC belong to the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange and should be returned to it. The court decision to return Bitfinex’s bitcoins was issued in January. The platform is to receive the cryptocurrency stolen by hackers in 2016.

«That's when the market will know the difference between 'seized' and 'confiscated' assets,» Thorne said.

As a reminder, in 2022, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) seized 94,636 BTC from Elijah Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan. Lichtenstein was convicted of hacking the Bitfinex exchange, and Morgan was convicted of laundering stolen assets. The court noted that Bitfinex will receive bitcoins, not their fiat currency equivalent. Bitfinex is considered the only victim, as the exchange has already compensated the losses to affected customers.