Bitfinex Returns Portion Of Assets Stolen From 2016 Hack

Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex has recovered some of the funds it lost after being hacked in August 2016.

The recovered assets will be used to compensate holders of the exchange’s Recovery Right Tokens (RRTs), which were issued to impacted creditors after the security breach.

How Much Was Recovered?

As announced by Bitfinex on Thursday, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has returned $312,219.71 in cash and 6.917 in Bitcoin Cash (BCH) accumulated from ongoing efforts to recover assets from the hack.

“We are extremely pleased to be able to reach another successful milestone in the recovery of assets stolen from Bitfinex in 2016,” said Paolo Ardoino, Chief Technology Officer of Bitfinex.

This month’s specific seizure was conducted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection and will be used to redeem RRT holders. There are 30 million RRT tokens in circulation redeemable for $1 each, meaning authorities still have much more to recover to compensate token holders.

Nevertheless, the market price for such tokens surged from $0.7 to $0.9 on Thursday, before retracing to $0.75 at writing time, according to CoinGecko. Buyers of such tokens are effectively betting on Bitfinex’s successful ability to recover assets, in which case they are guaranteed to profit.

After compensating all RRT holders, Bitfinex will use up to 80% of the remaining recovered assets to reward holders of Bitfinex’s utility token, UNUS SED LEO.

“Bitfinex continues to work with relevant law enforcement agencies and through the judicial system to recover property stolen from the exchange during the security breach,” wrote the exchange.

Bitfinex and the Largest Financial Seizure Ever

The proceeds still pale in comparison to the 119,756 BTC lost at the time. Worth just north of $71 million at the time, that same stash is now valued at over $3.6 billion.

Thankfully, law enforcement arrested the couple suspected of being behind the hack last year after they attempted to move funds between blockchain addresses.

The DOJ recovered most of the associated funds as a result, making history’s largest-ever financial seizure, and turning the U.S. government into the world’s largest single holder of BTC.

Rumors emerged in May that the government might be selling thousands of Bitcoin gleaned from both its Bitfinex and Silk Road seizures, but on-chain data proved such rumors false.