Bitfinex Hack Proceeds Found, Bitcoin Ledger Helps Law Enforcement
J.W. Verret
The Department of Justice this week announced that it has recovered most of the bitcoin that was stolen in the Bitfinex hack from 2016. The stolen bitcoin was then worth $70 million but is worth $4.5 billion today. A husband and wife were charged with laundering the proceeds of the hack.
The story has a lot of interesting undercurrents, the wife stars in weird rap videos under the name RazzleKahn (her site describes her as being “like Genghis Kahn but with more pizzazz”) and gave a talk about how to use deception in social engineering. She also has a column with Forbes, where one article talks about “experts share tips to protect your business from cybercriminals.” Hmm.
The ultimate takeaway is that the immutable nature of the Bitcoin blockchain helped law enforcement track the proceeds (and made the stolen bitcoin difficult to spend in the first place). Chainalysis has more here.