In a blog post earlier this week, cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex reported that 27.66270285 BTC (approximately $105,000) have been returned to customers due to the efforts of US law enforcement. The returned Bitcoins were part of a theft that took place in 2016. Bitfinex reported that it became aware of the recovered crypto in November of 2018.
The Bitcoins returned were just a small fraction of the approximately $72 million which remains one of the largest cryptocurrency hacks of all time.
Bitfinex states that it took a unique approach by generalizing the losses across all accounts and crediting BFX tokens to customers at a ratio of 1 BFX to 1 dollar lost.”
Additionally, the exchange states that “within eight months of the security breach, all BFX token holders had their tokens redeemed at 100 cents on the dollar or exchanged their tokens for, directly or indirectly, shares of the capital stock of iFinex Inc. All BFX tokens were destroyed within this process. Additionally, Bitfinex created a tradable Recovery Right Token (RRT) for BFX holders that converted BFX tokens into shares of iFinex.”
The full amount of recovered Bitcoins is being distributed pro rata to the RRT holders.
Giancarlo Devasini, Chief Financial Officer at Bitfinex, commented on the Bitcoin recovery:
“Over two years following the hack of the Bitfinex platform, today we see the results of a clear and robust response strategy and the efforts of the U.S. government. It gives us great pleasure to be able to reimburse our traders that were loyal to us and believed in us at a very difficult time. We would like to thank U.S. federal law enforcement agencies for their ongoing efforts to investigate the security breach and their commitment to seizing and returning stolen assets. We will continue to assist law enforcement with their inquiries, and also once again extend an open invitation to the hackers, or anyone harbouring information pertaining to the breach, to make contact in whichever medium they feel most secure with, to finally resolve the situation in a mutually beneficial manner.”
Bitfinex is a top 50 cryptocurrency exchange, according to CoinMarketCap. The marketplace’s 30 day trading volume stands at around $3 billion.
