According to CoinDesk, the US government has transferred nearly $1 billion worth of Bitcoin (BTC) from a cryptocurrency wallet involved in the Bitfinex hack.
Arkham Intelligence, a blockchain data company, identified three wallets holding the seized Bitfinex hacker funds. One of the wallets transferred 1 BTC to an unidentified address at 2 am Taiwan time on Thursday, followed by the remaining 2,817 BTC being fully transferred out of the wallet approximately half an hour later, with a total value of around $173 million.
Shortly after, another wallet holding approximately 12,300 BTC transferred 0.01 BTC to another unidentified address, followed by the rest of the Bitcoin being transferred out. The total value of the transferred coins amounts to approximately $750 million. The combined value of the Bitcoin transferred from the two wallets is approximately $923 million.
The motive behind these transfers remains unclear, and the US Department of Justice has not immediately responded to media inquiries regarding the matter.
According to Arkham’s data, there is another wallet holding approximately 94,600 BTC from the Bitfinex hack, currently valued at around $5.79 billion.
In August 2016, the cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex suffered a hack resulting in the loss of approximately 119,754 BTC. Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, a couple from New York, were implicated in the incident. They engaged in a series of small and complex transactions across multiple accounts and platforms to launder over 94,000 BTC.
The US authorities arrested the couple in February 2022 and seized these Bitcoins, which were worth around $54 million at the time of the incident but valued over $3.6 billion when discovered by the prosecution. As part of a plea agreement reached with the prosecution, Lichtenstein pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money, while Morgan pleaded guilty to conspiracy to launder money and conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
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