Federal Court Orders Return of $9.3B Bitcoin to Bitfinex

A federal court has ordered the return of 94,643 bitcoins, valued at over $9.3 billion, to cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex. This decision relates to the 2016 hack, where 119,754 bitcoins were stolen from customer accounts.

The hack was initially valued at $71 million but is now worth over $11 billion.
As a response, Bitfinex reduced account balances by 36% and issued BFX tokens to affected users for recovery.
In 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice linked Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan to the theft, leading to their guilty pleas.
The ruling in January 2025 determined that Bitfinex users do not qualify as "victims" under the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act.
Account holders have until January 28 to file objections or claims regarding the recovered assets.
Bitfinex will redeem remaining Recovery Right Tokens issued in 2016 for impacted users.
The case highlights challenges related to asset ownership and victim status in cryptocurrency restitution.

The DOJ has established a process for affected parties to submit claims, influencing the allocation of recovered funds.