In January 2025, the US federal court decided that 94,643 of 119,754 BTC stolen in the 2016 Bitfinex exchange hack must be returned to the exchange, which is known as the only victim of the crime.
In 2022, the Department of Justice managed to take control of 94,643 of 119,754 bitcoins associated with the check, paving the way for reinstatement. The DOJ is working to recover the rest of the stolen coins, which were made through money laundering efforts.
Before the collapse, the number of stolen bitcoins was worth about $72 million. After the price drop, the value of these coins was estimated at $58 million. On January 19, 2025, 94.6k BTC is estimated to be worth $9 billion. The amount of stolen assets was more than half of the bitcoins controlled by Bitfinex at the time.
Details of the decision
The management that may be controversial as all Bitfinex clients whose funds were exchanged in 2016 were affected regardless of whether criminals left their wallets as the addresses were unaffected partially eliminated by the exchange (“one victim”) itself.
The platform will cut all investments by 36.06% and compensate ee with some BFX tokens or Right to recovery symptoms provided by parent company iFinex. These tokens could be redeemed for cash or converted into iFinex equity.
The ethical questions behind cutting the clients' deposits with a third party, the compensation was almost not even in 2016, considering that the check caused a significant decrease in the price of BTC.
Nevertheless, the latest decision leaves a window of opportunity for the affected Bitfinex clients, as they can claim the portions of the compensation individually until January 28.
According to the judge, neither the exchange nor the users fit the criteria of the victim; however, as a result of plea agreements, voluntary resettlement became possible.
The people behind the skin and money laundering
Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan are the people who did a larger than life crypto hack, and his wife with whom they tried to launder the money. The papers called them “Bitcoin Bonnie and Clyde”. Unlike the real life Bonnie and Clyde, Lichtenstein and Morgan were far more interesting and interesting than the legendary crime couple of the 1930s, immortalized in pop culture.
While Lichtenstein was a low-key IT entrepreneur and did not catch the public eye, Morgan was writing for Inc. and Forbes, but famously after the arrest, she became a “werder-na-Bjork” rapper under the speaker Razzlekhan. She let her latest video on January 10, 2025, and it really adds a nice dose of surrealism to a whole situation.
However, we cannot underestimate the enigma of Lichtenstein as well as the clever ways to hack Bitfinex and ways to clean the money stolen from the exchange. Lichtenstein and Morgan's actions became the subject of a Netflix documentary series, which is currently in the works.
Lichtenstein and Morgan admitted that they were involved in money laundering, and Lichtenstein pleaded guilty to hacking Bitfinex. He received a 5-year sentence, and his wife faces 3 years in prison. On December 19, 2024, the prison video of Lichtenstein apologizing for the check and regretting his past actions was posted on his X account. In the video, Ilya took 100% responsibility for the heist and said that his wife did not know about the hack. He said he was willing to return all the stolen money.
Lichtenstein and Morgan admitted that they were involved in money laundering while Lichtenstein alone wanted to hack Bitfinex. He was sentenced to 5 years while his wife is facing 3 years in prison. On December 19, 2024, the prison video of Lichtenstein apologizing for the check and regretting his past actions was posted on his X account. In the video, Ilya took 100% responsibility for the heist and said that his wife did not know about the hack. He said he was willing to return all the stolen money.
Is the regulation controversial?
There are several ways to look at the situation and decide whether the crypto community was a success or a failure.
Those who believe that the US should not sell any bitcoins cannot applaud this ruling because, according to it, the money held by the DOJ will be sent to a company headquartered in Taiwan and the British Virgin Islands. However, if the government chooses to collect one million bitcoins, 94,643 bitcoins will not be critical damage on the way to this goal. It is not good news at all.
Those who believe that the stolen money should be returned to the affected clients hardly see the ruling as correct. The time frame for claiming a split of the compensation (until January 28) appears to be difficult. All in all, it's good to have a chance.
And, finally, those who prefer Bitfinex can own these coins over the DOJ celebration because the coins will be released from the government back to Bitfinex and the affected party will get the majority of what they had on their balance sheet. It is likely that the money will come on the market again. We hope that it will improve the opportunities for exchanges in recovering user funds.
And, finally, those who prefer Bitfinex can own these coins over the DOJ celebration because the coins will be released from the government back to Bitfinex and the affected party will get the majority of what they had on their balance sheet. It is likely that the money will come on the market again. We hope it will improve the exchange's chances of recovering the client's money.
