US government moves $606K in Bitcoin seized from Bitfinex hack to Coinbase Prime

Around $606,000 in Bitcoin connected to the Bitfinex hack was moved by the US government to Coinbase Prime on Thursday, blockchain data shows.

The transfer follows the government’s earlier movements on March 3 and April 10, which were connected to two separate crypto-related cases.

As of April 2026, federal wallets hold 328,361 $BTC, valued at around $24 billion.

The Bitfinex hack, which took place on August 2 2016, is one of the largest early shocks to the crypto industry.

On that day, hacker Ilya Lichtenstein exploited a vulnerability in Bitfinex’s multi-signature wallet system and stole more than 119,000 Bitcoin worth around $72 million at the time.

At today’s prices around $74,000 per coin, the same pile would be worth roughly $8.9 billion.

Following his 2016 hack of the Bitfinex exchange, Lichtenstein spent over five years alongside his wife, Heather Morgan, attempting to launder stolen funds through complex, layered transactions.

In February 2022, federal authorities seized approximately 94,636 $BTC after the FBI decrypted files in Lichtenstein’s cloud storage. These files contained a spreadsheet with over 2,000 private keys that gave agents direct access to nearly all of the recovered funds.

Lichtenstein received a five-year prison sentence in November 2024. Morgan got 18 months.

In early 2025, federal proceedings solidified the in-kind restitution of the seized assets to Bitfinex. This requires the US government to return the seized coins.

Per its whitepaper and recovery commitments, Bitfinex intends to use those funds to fully redeem all outstanding Recovery Right Tokens (RRT) and allocate at least 80% of the remaining net proceeds to repurchase and burn UNUS, SED, and LEO tokens.