US Government Moves $922M in Seized Bitcoin as Crypto Reaches $60,000 Benchmark
Summary:
The US government recently transferred $922 million worth of Bitcoin seized in 2016 from Bitfinex, coinciding with the cryptocurrency surpassing $60,000 for the first time in over two years. The transactions came a day after Bitfinex hacker Ilya Lichtenstein appeared in court admitting to hacking other exchange accounts besides Bitfinex. Lichtenstein and his wife pleaded guilty to money laundering tied to the Bitfinex attack and faced the US government's largest-ever financial seizure. Speculations surfaced that Amazon's planning a movie on this episode, taking inspiration from the duo’s reference as "Bitcoin’s Bonnie and Clyde” in a 2022 New York Times article.
In a notable action, the United States administration recently moved Bitcoin valued at $922 million from two digital currency wallets. These wallets contained money seized from the Bitfinex platform in 2016. This hefty transfer by the U.S. government coincides with Bitcoin crossing the $60,000 benchmark for the maiden time in more than two years on February 28. Reporting a surge of 5.52% within the 24 hours before 9:45 pm UTC, Bitcoin was trading at $62,507. The pioneer cryptocurrency shows an upward performance of above 20% in the preceding week.
The initial trial transfer of 1 Bitcoin, equivalent to $60,200 at the time of the transaction, was executed at 3:39 pm UTC on February 28. This was closely followed by a sequence of transfers from a U.S. government-designated wallet. This included a second transfer of 2,817 Bitcoin ($172.74 million), a third transfer of 0.01 Bitcoin ($613.35), and a final transfer of 12,267 Bitcoin ($748.46 million), as data from Arkham Intelligence reveals.
The said funds were originally confiscated in 2016 following the hacking of Bitfinex, leading to the loss of 119,754 BTC, now valued over $7.4 billion. The timing of these transactions is noteworthy, being just a day after Ilya Lichtenstein, accused of purloining and laundering Bitcoin worth over $4.5 billion from Bitfinex, presented his case in a Washington courtroom.
Lichtenstein, on February 27, confessed to the jury about how he accessed Bitfinex’s systems for several months and simultaneously hacked into personal accounts at other platforms like Coinbase and Kraken. This was reported by Bloomberg. Lichtenstein and his musically-inclined spouse, Heather Morgan (known by her stage name Razzlekhan), were apprehended in February 2022.
Subsequently, allegations surfaced stating they had colluded to launder $4.5 billion in stolen Bitcoin, with the U.S. government seizing $3.6 billion of it in an unprecedented financial seizure. The government later seized an additional $475 million worth of Bitcoin on August 3.
The couple accepted their guilt in terms of conspiracy to launder money, in relation to the Bitfinex hack, in August 2023. According to reports, Amazon has initiated the production of a movie based on the Bitfinex money launderers. The script is speculated to be influenced by a New York Times article from 2022 that labelled the duo as "Bitcoin’s Bonnie and Clyde.”
Published At
2/29/2024 1:26:02 PM
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