• In a major development related to the 2016 Bitfinex hack, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has returned $312,219.71 in cash and 6.917 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) to the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.
• The funds were seized with the help of U.S. Customs and Border Protection. Recovery efforts to retrieve the remaining stolen assets are still ongoing.
• In February 2022, Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan were arrested on charges of conspiring to launder cryptocurrencies linked to the hack, resulting in 94,000 of the stolen Bitcoins being seized from them by special agents.
U.S Department of Homeland Security Returns Funds To Bitfinex
The United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has returned $312,219.71 in cash and 6.917 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) to cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex after the 2016 security breach which resulted in 119,576 Bitcoins being stolen from customers worth approximately $70 million at that time but now valued at around $3.7 billion dollars today .
Seizure Of Funds By U.S Customs And Border Protection
The funds were seized with collaboration between DHS and U.S Customs and Border Protection as part of recovery efforts to retrieve remaining stolen assets are still ongoing .
Arrest Of Ilya Lichtenstein And Heather Morgan
In February 2022 , Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan were apprehended by US Department Of Justice on charges for conspiring to launder cryptocurrencies associated with the hack , leading special agents to seize over 94,000 out of 119,576 stolen Bitcoins from couple’s private key files .
Distribution Of Returned Assets To Victims
Bitfinex will use these recovered assets for redeeming Recovery Rights Tokens (RRTs) issued post-hack with par value of 1$ each totaling 30 million RRTs currently in circulation while any remaining funds will be allocated token holders Unus Sed Leo (Leo), Bitfinex’s native token .
Efforts To Recover Remaining Stolen Funds
Authorities are still working towards justice in this case as they continue their search for retrieval of remaining stolen funds from 2016 Bitfinex Hack .