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 to Coinbase, with on-chain data suggesting the transferred coins are linked to the 2016 hack of Bitfinex, carried out by Ilya Lichtenstein. The transferred 8 BTC are part of the 119,756 BTC stolen in the hack, which is now worth around $8.9 billion. Following a court-mandated restitution, the government is required to return the seized assets to Bitfinex instead of liquidating them. The exchange plans to use the returned funds to fully redeem all outstanding Recovery Right Tokens and allocate at least 80% of the remaining net proceeds to repurchase and burn its UNUS SED LEO token. Lichtenstein was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison in 2024 and was released in January 2026. The US government currently holds bitcoin valued at around $24.54 billion, as well as other cryptocurrencies.