The United States government transferred $922 million from two Bitcoin wallets containing funds seized from Bitfinex in 2016 on the same day Bitcoin crossed the $60,000 mark for the first time in over two years.
The transfers by the U.S. government transpired on February 28, the same day that Bitcoin surpassed $60,000 for the first time in over two years. As of 9:45 pm UTC, Bitcoin had increased by 5.52% to trade at $62,507. This past week, the first cryptocurrency in the world has risen by more than 20%.
The initial test transfer occurred on February 28 at 3:39 pm and was worth 1 Bitcoin ($60,200 during the transfer), according to data from Arkham Intelligence, the U.S. government-labeled device subsequently transmitted a fourth transaction worth $12,267 Bitcoin ($748.46 million), a third transaction worth 0.01 Bitcoin ($613.35), and a second transaction worth 2,817 Bitcoin ($172.74 million).
The government seized the funds after a 2016 breach of Bitfinex valued at approximately 119,754 BTC (equivalent to over $7.4 billion at the current price).
A day after Ilya Lichtenstein, a hacker who stole and laundered more than $4.5 billion worth of Bitcoin from the Bitfinex exchange, testified in a Washington court detailing how he executed one of the largest Bitcoin heists in history, the transfers took place.
Bloomberg reports that on February 27, Lichtenstein testified before a jury that he hacked individual accounts at other exchanges, including Coinbase and Kraken, and had access to Bitfinex’s systems for several months.
February 2022 saw the apprehension of Lichtenstein and his rapper spouse, Heather Morgan (also known as Razzlekhan). At the time, the United States government claimed they conspired to launder $4.5 billion in compromised Bitcoin, which seized $3.6 billion in the largest financial seizure in history. On August 3, 2022, the government confiscated an additional $475 million Bitcoin.
In August 2023, Lichtenstein and his spouse entered pleas of guilty to a money laundering conspiracy charge about the Bitfinex breach. Reportedly, Amazon has begun production on a film about the Bitfinex money launderers. According to reports, the screenplay will draw inspiration from a 2022 New York Times article that characterized the couple as “Bitcoin’s Bonnie and Clyde.”
