Binance CEO on $3.6B BTC Recovery: Crypto Is “Easier” to Trace

In light of the recent retrieval of Bitcoin from the Bitfinex hack in 2016, Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao tweeted that cryptocurrency is much easier to trace than fiat money.

On February 7, the US Justice Department unearthed one of the biggest cryptocurrency hacks, recovering $3.6 billion worth of bitcoins. These belonged to crypto exchange Bitfinex, which was hacked by a couple in 2016. Nearly 120,000 BTC were reported to have been stolen in the hack.

The federal agents have arrested the accused couple Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan for allegedly conspiring to launder the stolen money from the hacks.

The stolen 120,000 BTC accounted for $60 million at that time, and is now valued at $4.5 billion. However, the authorities were only able to seize $3.6 billion or 94,000 BTC.

A press release by  the US Department of Justice (DOJ) stated that initially, the court released search warrants for online accounts controlled by the suspects. After executing it, special investigation agents got access to files within an online account handled by Lichtenstein.

The press release further read:

Those files contained the private keys required to access the digital wallet that directly received the funds stolen from Bitfinex, and allowed special agents to lawfully seize and recover more than 94,000 bitcoin that had been stolen from Bitfinex. The recovered bitcoin was valued at over $3.6 billion at the time of seizure.

In an announcement on their website, Bitfinex said that it would work with the DOJ to follow proper legal processes and establish their rights to retrieve the stolen bitcoins. The company also added that if it retrieves any of the stolen bitcoin, it would use an amount equal to 80% of the recovered net funds to repurchase and burn its token named UNUS SED LEO. This would be done within 18 months from the date it receives the amount.