Certainly up there with some of the largest cryptocurrency thefts ever recorded, today’s lofty single transfer of 10,000 BTC (equivalent to around $380 million) is confirmed to be part of the notorious 2016 Bitfinex crypto exchange hack.
Multi-Billion BTC Transaction
A seriously hefty chunk of an estimated $380 million worth of BTC was pushed to an anonymous wallet today. This is the largest sum in a series of cryptocurrency movements tied to the 2016 Bitfinex theft. Since this theft, only a portion of the stolen currency has been taken back from cybercriminals.
Record amount of BTC moved to new anonymous address
A total of $3.6 billion in BTC movements has been detected today, tracked to the same hackers that orchestrated the 2016 Bitfinex crypto exchange theft. More than twenty transactions in various sizes were flagged as belonging to this same transfer. Most transactions ranged from as little as 0.29 BTC to thousands of BTC. The anonymous wallet address that the transfer pointed to, is now confirmed to hold 94,643 BTC, equivalent to about $3.6 billion.
Motives Behind the Transfer
The exact motives behind this latest colossal movement of cryptocurrency are unknown. However, the transfer does come at a time when BTC value has plummeted below $40,000 in the current BTC bear market. In an earlier scenario, hackers transferred an estimated $700 million worth of cryptocurrency in April 2021’s vertical bull frenzy market. What is known at this time, is that hackers have been shifting and slowly leaking the stolen coins in a calculated manner since 2016 — worth around $70 million then — to multiple addresses.
Are hackers manipulating the market?
Some suggest that this very hefty transfer of BTC is a tactic to induce market panic. Furthermore, blockchain analytics company Elliptic added that it is unlikely these funds can be cashed out anytime soon.
Most of the hackers are known and blacklisted
Most of the malicious actors associated with the Bitfinex theft have since been blacklisted and are also tracked. Therefore, simply cashing out the cryptocurrency will be rather difficult. However, according to some, it is not impossible via crypto-swapping protocols like Rune and Shapeshift.
Various BTC movements still active
Whale Alert’s Twitter feed is providing insight into multiple large transfers of cryptocurrency that are taking place at present.
Crypto Theft Remains a Serious Problem
Cryptocurrency theft is a frequent cybercrime. Due to the nature of crypto exchanges and digital wallets, they can be extremely vulnerable. The success of cybercriminal phishing schemes, vulnerable cryptocurrency private keys, and mismanagement of crypto exchanges are all examples of these vulnerabilities. Cryptocurrency theft may not be as immediately fruitful as a real-world bank heist scenario, but it definitely still leads to serious real-world damage and is difficult for law enforcement to deal with. To this day, people have had their investments go up in smoke, crypto companies have gone bankrupt, and the crypto realm has incurred an estimated $15 billion in losses. For these reasons, crypto exchange leader Binance has just set up a 1$ billion emergency insurance fund called SAFU (Secure Asset Fund for Users) and is urging others to join the program. Digital currency and blockchain technology promise to be the cornerstones of a high-tech future, but there is no doubt that organized cybercrime will keep throwing spanners in the works until, and if, a permanent cybersecurity solution can be found.
