Cryptocurrency The world is currently worth $3.6 billion seized by the United States. of bitcoin Debating who to give it to.
Bitcoins were stolen in 2016 after the Bitfinex exchange was hacked.
David Silver, a lawyer who specializes in cryptocurrency and financial fraud, said that he has received numerous phone calls since the news that BTCs were seized.
Silver said that most of the calls he received were about people claiming to have lost money in 2016 wanting to get their money back.
The Twitter world is also discussing this issue quite intensely.
However, US Department of Justice officials said they plan to set up a court process in order to get victims’ money back. BTCs, which were worth $ 3.6 billion at the time of the seizure, reached a value of approximately $ 4.5 billion at the time of this writing.
Bitfinex Does Not Want To Give Victims Their Bitcoins Back
However, it may not be easy to identify who owns the cryptocurrencies.
Bitfinex, on the other hand, said in its statement that all the victims of the hack were paid in the past and that the stock market will “take the necessary legal steps to get their stolen Bitcoins again.”
If there is a dispute between Bitfinex and users, it is thought that the legal process will be prolonged.
Silver said in his statement on the subject: “The world has undergone a great change since 2016. Now everyone will lay claim to these newly found cryptocurrencies.”
Bitfinex declined to make any further comments on the matter.
Under the argument that Bitfinex pays its users lies the token distribution that took place a long time ago. After the hacking event in August 2016, the criminals disappeared with 119,000 BTC.
After that, Bitfinex deposited 30% of all its customers’ losses into their accounts. Later, the company, which released a token called BFX, distributed these tokens to its customers at the rate of 1 token for every 1 dollar stolen. Within 8 months, all customers used these tokens or sold them for iFinex shares.
In case Bitfinex gets back the stolen BTCs, with at least 80% of those cryptocurrencies Leo It is known that he has a plan to buy and burn his own cryptocurrency.
Erik Voorhees, who now runs the ShapeShift cryptocurrency exchange, was also a victim of this hack in 2016.
However, Voorhees said that Bitfinex paid him all of his stolen money and he has no debts left.
$71M Stolen BTC Is Worth $4.5 Billion Today
However, with the Bitcoin price skyrocketing from $600 in August 2016 to $45,000 today, many Bitfinex customers claim that the stolen BTCs belong to them.
Stolen BTCs, which corresponded to $ 71 million at the time, are worth $ 4.5 billion at the time of this writing.
Complicating things is that nothing but an email address is required to register on the Bitfinex exchange. Silver said: “I don’t think the Department of Justice will return the stolen $4.5 billion to an institution that cannot verify who these cryptocurrencies belong to.”
Another lawyer, Kellen Dwyer, said that the stolen Bitcoin case will take many years and most people will not be able to get their BTC back for years.