US Government Transfers $606,000 in Bitcoin Tied to 2016 Bitfinex Hack to Coinbase

The US government has moved approximately $606,000 worth of bitcoin, linked to the 2016 Bitfinex hack, to Coinbase. The transferred coins are part of the 119,756 BTC stolen by Ilya Lichtenstein, who was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison in 2024. The returned funds will be used by Bitfinex to fully redeem outstanding Recovery Right Tokens and allocate at least 80% of the remaining net proceeds to repurchase and burn its UNUS SED LEO token. The 2016 hack resulted in the theft of BTC worth roughly $72 million at the time, which would be valued at $8.9 billion today. The US government holds bitcoin valued at about $24.54 billion, along with other seized cryptocurrencies, as part of a national strategic reserve.