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

The US government has recently moved approximately $606,000 worth of bitcoin to Coinbase Prime, with on-chain data suggesting the transferred coins are linked to the 2016 Bitfinex hack. The 8 BTC transferred are part of the 119,756 BTC stolen by Ilya Lichtenstein in the decade-old hack. According to court proceedings, the seized assets will be returned to Bitfinex, which plans to use the funds 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 involved Lichtenstein fraudulently authorizing over 2,000 transactions, transferring 119,756 BTC to a wallet under his control, worth roughly $72 million at the time. The stolen coins were laundered through crypto mixers, darknets, and chain-hopping between coins, as well as the purchase of gold. In 2022, investigators seized a portion of the stolen BTC, and in 2024, Lichtenstein was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison. The US government holds bitcoin valued at about $24.54 billion, ether at roughly $146 million, and several other cryptocurrencies.