The U.S. government is active on the blockchain again, moving approximately $606,000 worth of bitcoin to Coinbase Prime.
These are not just any coins. On-chain data suggests the transferred 8 BTC are linked to Ilya Lichtenstein, the man behind the decade-old hack of the OG exchange Bitfinex, according to data tracked by Arkham.
Transfers to exchanges are often interpreted as a sign of potential selling pressure. However, that is not always the case and could also reflect routine wallet movements, custody changes, or other non-selling activity.
These coins have destination
The bitcoin tied to the Bitfinex hack, which saw Lichtenstein walk away with 119,756 BTC, has a court-mandated destination and it’s not U.S. Treasury.
In early 2025, federal proceedings solidified the in-kind restitution of the seized assets to Bitfinex, requiring the government to return the coins rather than liquidate them independently.
Bitfinex intends to use the returned funds to fully redeem all outstanding Recovery Right Tokens – digital claims issued to customers who suffered losses in the hack – and to allocate at least 80% of the remaining net proceeds to repurchase and burn its UNUS SED LEO token.
The 2016 hack
In August 2016, Lichtenstein hacked into Bitfinex and fraudulently authorized more than 2,000 transactions, transferring 119,756 BTC to a wallet under his control. At that time, the exploit was worth roughly $72 million. (As of today, it would be worth $8.9 billion)
What followed were years of sophisticated money laundering via crypto mixers, darknets, and chain-hopping between coins, as well as the purchase of gold.
Finally, in 2022, investigators caught up and seized a portion of the stolen BTC, then worth $3.6 billion. In 2024, Lichtenstein was sentenced to 60 months in federal prison and was released in January 2026 under the First Step Act, thanking President Donald Trump on X.
The stolen coins, however, remained in government custody. The U.S. said last year that its holdings of seized BTC would form part of a national strategic bitcoin reserve. As of writing, the government holds bitcoin valued at about $24.54 billion, ether at roughly $146 million, and several other cryptocurrencies.
