U.S. authorities return Bitfinex assets seized following 2016 hack.

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) returned to the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange funds seized in connection with the platform hack in 2016. About this, говорится in a press release.

According to the statement, the DHS played a key role in seizing the stolen assets. The assets consist of 6.917 BCH ($1,949.90 at the time of writing) and $312,219.70 in cash.

“In accordance with Bitfinex’s obligations to token holders, these sums will be used to redeem the Recovery Rights Tokens (RRT) issued by Bitfinex after the security breach in 2016,” the company noted.

The exchange said there are 30 million RRT in circulation. Under the terms, token holders can exchange them 1:1 for the dollar of the reimbursed funds.

As a result of the hack in early August 2016, Bitfinex lost nearly 120,000 BTC ($71.8 million at the time, more than $3.6 billion at current prices) and paused operations for a period.

In May 2020, unknown actors sent 30.667192 BTC to anonymous addresses from the stolen funds. Later moved 4571 BTC and 473.3183 BTC.

In August 2020, Bitfinex announced a $400 million reward for assistance in recovering the stolen funds. In October, the attackers moved bitcoins totaling more than $30 million, and in December — in total 7,045.48 BTC.

On February 1, 2022, 94,643 BTC moved. In the same month, U.S. authorities arrested 34-year-old Ilya Lichtenstein and 31-year-old Heather Morgan on charges of laundering 119,754 BTC stolen from Bitfinex.

Officials from the U.S. Department of Justice also said this was the largest seizure of digital assets in the agency’s history — 94,636 BTC ($3.6 billion at the time).

Morgan was released on bail of $3 million. The court found there was no substantial evidence beyond the assertion that she allegedly received funds related to the case.

As reported in May 2023, journalists found that Bitfinex failed to implement ‘operational, financial and technological controls’. This made the hack possible.