The largest Bitfinex hack: how hackers and law enforcement rewrote cryptocurrency history
January 16, 2025
In 2016, the cryptocurrency world was rocked by the Bitfinex exchange hack, during which 119,754 BTC were stolen. At the time, the amount was valued in tens of millions of dollars, and the incident became one of the largest in the industry's history.
Now, U.S. authorities plan to return 94,643 BTC to the exchange, which accounts for about 80% of the stolen funds. These assets, seized from hacker Ilya Lichtenstein, will be returned along with the equivalent in Bitcoin Cash, Bitcoin Satoshi Vision, and Bitcoin Gold, which emerged after hard forks.
The situation with the remaining ~25,000 BTC remains complex: the assets were laundered through the darknet, unregulated exchanges, and mixers. Their confiscation will require additional legal proceedings.
Who is to blame?
In 2024, a U.S. court sentenced Ilya Lichtenstein to five years in prison for the Bitfinex hack, while his wife, Heather Morgan, was sentenced to 18 months for involvement in money laundering. The couple pleaded guilty and cooperated with the investigation, which helped return the stolen funds.
In December 2024, Lichtenstein claimed from prison that he acted alone, raising some questions, but authorities did not pursue the investigation further.
What's next?
Returning the bulk of the funds is a significant success, but confiscating the remaining assets may take time. Some of the stolen funds, laundered through complex schemes, are no longer considered "specific property" of Bitfinex.