A US federal court has ruled that 94,643 Bitcoins confiscated following the 2016 Bitfinex hack will be returned to the cryptocurrency exchange as part of a voluntary compensation settlement related to the settlements. guilty plea of the convicted.
Bitfinex users are not considered ‘victims’ and, therefore, have no ownership rights to these funds.
Redemption Expected From Bitfinex
The decision is based on a filing from October in which both the convicted individuals, Heather Morgan and Ilya Lichtenstein, and iFinex, Bitfinex’s parent company, recognized the exchange as the sole victim of the case. thief.
Currently, the US government is holding these confiscated Bitcoins. By January 2025, the court decided that Bitfinex and its users did not qualify as “victims” under the Mandatory Victims Compensation Act.
“US Government Says Bitcoin Stolen in 2016 Will Be Returned to Bitfinex. Attackers laundered 119,754 BTC in August 2016 – worth $71 million at the time. Current value is 11 billion USD. Clear recognition of cryptocurrency ownership in the United States. FTX customers should be treated similarly,” popular FTX creditor Sunil said.
The compensation process covers all assets directly related to the 2016 Bitfinex hack. Funds laundered using complex methods will go through a different asset recovery process.
Additionally, Bitfinex users and other parties can challenge the indemnification provisions. They can also file a claim against the recovered funds. The deadline to file a complaint is January 28, 2025.
The Ministry of Justice has also established a mechanism for individuals to identify themselves as affected parties and file complaints.
Comprehensive Recovery Plan
Bitfinex confirms plans to redeem remaining Restoration Rights Tokens issued to users following the 2016 hack. These tokens were introduced to compensate affected customers by redistributing assets has been withdrawn.
Previously, the exchange announced in 2022 that 80% of the recovered funds will be used to buy back and destroy unsettled UNUS SED LEO Tokens. This is a type of debt token created after the hack to compensate for customer losses.
The buyback of these Tokens is expected to take place within 18 months. The ultimate goal is to remove all LEO Tokens from circulation. According to the latest developments, LEO Token has increased by nearly 4% within the past 24 hours.
Heather Morgan and Ilya Lichtenstein were convicted of money laundering and fraud conspiracy.
Morgan, who advised businesses on cybercrime prevention, was sentenced to 18 months in prison. Meanwhile, Lichtenstein received a 5-year prison sentence.
Recovering the additional 25,000 Bitcoins becomes more complicated. Prosecutors said these funds were laundered using advanced methods such as filtered chain transactions, non-compliant cryptocurrency exchanges, darknet markets, and mixers.
Due to these money laundering efforts, the coins cannot be properly classified as stolen assets in the Bitfinex hack. They will therefore be dealt with through additional estate disposal trials.
