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The United States government transferred $922 million worth of Bitcoin from two cryptocurrency wallets that held funds seized from Bitfinex in 2016.
The U.S. government’s transfers occurred the same day Bitcoin (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price">BTC</a>) breached $60,000 for the <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-breaches-60-000">first time in over two years</a> on Feb. 28. Bitcoin rose 5.52% in the 24 hours leading up to 9:45 pm UTC to trade at $62,507. The world’s first cryptocurrency is up over 20% in the past week.
The <a href="https://platform.arkhamintelligence.com/explorer/tx/20b3673bf0d6294c46faf88204349530b694902797ce726d800ab0f342cd88d4" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">first</a> test transfer, worth only 1 Bitcoin ($60,200 during the transfer), occurred at 3:39 pm on Feb. 28. Shortly after, the U.S. government-labeled wallet sent a second transaction worth 2,817 Bitcoin ($172.74 million), a third transaction worth 0.01 Bitcoin ($613.35) and a fourth transaction worth 12,267 Bitcoin ($748.46 million), <a href="https://platform.arkhamintelligence.com/explorer/entity/usg" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">according</a> to Arkham Intelligence data.
<figure data-ct-non-breakable="true">
 <img src="https://s3.cointelegraph.com/uploads/2024-02/4b50df1d-447a-4526-8a91-0d575d7f3d06.png" alt="" title="">
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 U.S. government Bitcoin wallet transfers. Source: Arkham Intelligence
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The government seized the funds in 2016 after Bitfinex was hacked for approximately 119,754 BTC, worth over $7.4 billion at its current price.
The transfers occurred a day after Ilya Lichtenstein, a hacker who stole and laundered over $4.5 billion worth of Bitcoin from the Bitfinex exchange, appeared in a Washington court detailing how he pulled off one the world’s largest Bitcoin heists.
Lichtenstein reportedly told a jury on Feb. 27 that he had access to Bitfinex’s systems for several months while also hacking individual accounts at other exchanges like Coinbase and Kraken, <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-02-27/crypto-heist-mastermind-ilya-lichtenstein-turned-us-cooperating-witness?sref=IIP4JEyu" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">according</a> to a Bloomberg report.
Lichtenstein and his rapper wife, Heather Morgan (also known as Razzlekhan), were arrested in February 2022. At the time, the U.S. government <a href="https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/two-arrested-alleged-conspiracy-launder-45-billion-stolen-cryptocurrency" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">alleged</a> they conspired to launder $4.5 billion in hacked Bitcoin, of which the government seized $3.6 billion in the largest financial seizure in history. The government <a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-dc/pr/husband-and-wife-plead-guilty-money-laundering-conspiracy-involving-hack-and-theft" target="_blank" rel="noopener nofollow">seized</a> an additional $475 million worth of Bitcoin on Aug. 3, 2022.
Lichtenstein and his wife pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy in connection with the Bitfinex hack in August 2023. <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/amazon-studios-film-bitfinex-hack">Amazon has reportedly</a> started making a movie on the Bitfinex money launderers. The script will reportedly be inspired by a 2022 article on the couple in The New York Times, branding them as “Bitcoin’s Bonnie and Clyde.”
Related: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/why-is-bitcoin-price-up-today">Why is Bitcoin price up today?</a>

US gov’t moved $922 million of seized Bitcoin after BTC price broke $60,000

Cointelegraph

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