Speculation Arises Over $20 Million Hack of US Government Crypto Wallet

On October 24, a series of suspicious transactions from a cryptocurrency wallet linked to the US government resulted in the transfer of $20 million in assets seized from Bitfinex hackers. Analysts at Arkham Intelligence noted this activity.

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$20M in USDC, USDT, aUSDC and ETH has been suspiciously moved from a USG-linked address 0xc9E6E51C7dA9FF1198fdC5b3369EfeDA9b19C34c to… pic.twitter.com/UXn1atE1Wx

— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) October 24, 2024

According to their data, the hacker transferred to one of their addresses:

• 13.6 million aUSDC;
• 5.44 million USDC;
• 1.12 million USDT;
• 177,892 ETH.

At the time of writing, the wallet holds assets valued at $13.1 million. The perpetrator has moved some funds to other addresses and begun exchanging them for ETH.

“We believe the perpetrator has already started laundering the proceeds through suspicious addresses linked to a money laundering service,” Arkham noted.

On-chain detective ZachXBT identified two more addresses belonging to the perpetrator, which currently hold $5.4 million and $1.36 million.

The mentioned government wallet previously received funds linked to Bitfinex hackers. It had been inactive for eight months.

October 25, 2024 | 17:37Update:

According to the Arkham dashboard, most of the withdrawn assets have returned to the US government address.

The previous movement of bitcoins seized from the Bitfinex hack was recorded at the end of February. At that time, US authorities moved $922 million.

In February 2022, US authorities announced the arrest of 34-year-old Ilya Lichtenstein and 31-year-old Heather Morgan, involved in the platform hack, and the seizure of $3.6 billion in bitcoins. Later, the accused was released on a $3 million bail, while Lichtenstein remained in custody.

In August 2023, the couple pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money.

In October 2024, US prosecutors requested a 60-month prison sentence for Ilya Lichtenstein and 18 months for Heather Morgan.