When bitcoins play hide and seek – On August 2, 2016, one of the biggest hacks in cryptosphere history took place: the Bitfinex platform lost 120,000 bitcoins (BTC). Of this gigantic sum, which would represent nearly $ 2.3 billion today, 100 million have just moved, creating a general alert within the crypto-community.
5,045 stolen BTC roaming the blockchain
Since their piracy, bitcoins stolen from Bitfinex have regularly been talked about, as last July, when 2,550 BTC was moved .
This time, it is an even greater amount of theft that transits on the Bitcoin Era blockchain, since a total of just over 5,045 BTC has been transferred by the hackers.
Various blockchain transaction tracking tools – like Whale Alert below – immediately sounded the alarm on 14 transactions related to the Bitfinex hack. Transactions that have been validated up to blocks 659 373 and 659 374 .
A „profit taking“ by hackers?
These wallet-to-wallet transfers thus total a value that fluctuates around $ 100 million , following the currently changing price of bitcoin, which is flirting with its all-time high.
This latest set of moves is the most significant hackers in a long time. What makes you wonder if the recent and sharp rise in the price of BTC does not encourage criminals to try to resell part of their loot .
To date, only 28 small bitcoins have been recovered and returned to the Bitfinex crypto exchange, with the rest of the BTC still running.