Recovery from the infamous 2016 hack is still ongoing, with U.S. authorities still assisting in the process.
In the latest developments surrounding the 2016 Bitfinex hack, the digital asset trading platform has announced the return of $312,219.71 in cash and 6.917 Bitcoin Cash (BCH) from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) as part of ongoing efforts to recover assets stolen following the security breach. At today’s Bitcoin Cash prices, the recovery value is $314,196.
Bitfinex suffered a major security breach in August 2016, resulting in the theft of 119,756 bitcoins, worth $72 million at the time. In 2022, the U.S. government successfully recovered some of the stolen bitcoins (worth $3.6 billion at the time), and Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife Heather R. Morgan were arrested for money laundering related to the hack.
The seizure was carried out by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, a law enforcement agency within the Department of Homeland Security.
Paolo Ardoino, CTO of Bitfinex, expressed the company’s satisfaction with this recovery milestone and commended the efforts of law enforcement agencies. He said: “This specific seizure demonstrates the commitment of law enforcement officials to diligently track down all proceeds from the crimes committed against Bitfinex nearly seven years ago.”
According to Bitfinex's contractual obligations to token holders, the recovered assets will be used to redeem Recovery Rights Tokens (RRT). These tokens were issued after the 2016 hack. However, the number of RRT in circulation is currently 30 million, and the amount recovered is not enough to redeem all RRT tokens. According to the contractual commitment, all RRT holders must redeem at $1. The remaining 80% of the further recovered assets will be paid to UNUS SED LEO token holders.
RRT holders will redeem tokens pro rata based on their RRT holdings today, July 6, 2023 at 12:00.01 AM UTC. Bitfinex continues to actively work with law enforcement and judicial systems to recover stolen assets.
Previous recovery attempts, such as the recovery of $120,000 worth of stolen Bitcoin in 2019, and recent arrests of individuals associated with laundering stolen funds reflect ongoing efforts to bring perpetrators to justice and recover stolen assets.