Reportedly, the US government faced a crypto hack incident in which they lost $20 million worth of cryptocurrencies

1 month ago 9

On 24 Oct 2024, blockchain intelligence firm Arkham reported that an unknown hacker transferred $20 million worth of cryptocurrencies from a crypto wallet that has been under the control of the US government.

As per the investigation by Arkham, the hacker started selling the moved funds for ETH and is probably already on the path of laundering them through a crypto mixing platform.

𝗨𝗣𝗗𝗔𝗧𝗘: 𝗨𝗦 𝗚𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗻𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗯𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗺𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝗿 $𝟮𝟬𝗠.

$20M in USDC, USDT, aUSDC and ETH has been suspiciously moved from a USG-linked address 0xc9E6E51C7dA9FF1198fdC5b3369EfeDA9b19C34c to… pic.twitter.com/UXn1atE1Wx

— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) October 24, 2024

According to Arkham Intelligence, the attacker sent the funds to a wallet beginning with “0x348,” which included US Dollar Coin (USDC), Tether (USDT), aUSDC, and Ether.

Bitfinex Hack

The funds currently being moved by the hacker are part of Bitfinex’s customer assets. Several years ago, two individuals, Lichtenstein and Morgan, hacked the exchange and stole 120,000 BTC (worth $8.2 billion at the current trade price), but in 2020, they were arrested by US authorities.

The couple pleaded guilty to charges of money laundering and conspiracy to defraud the US government in a July 2023 plea agreement with prosecutors, in exchange for lighter sentencing. In the initial phase of the investigation, Lichtenstein admitted to laundering the funds, but later disclosed that he was the hacker and attempted to launder the stolen assets.

In an Oct. 9 filing, US prosecutors argued that Morgan should receive a lighter sentence of 18 months in prison due to her earlier cooperation with law enforcement. Meanwhile, prosecutors recommended a five-year sentence for Lichtenstein for his role in orchestrating the hack and stealing 120,000 BTC.