1 Background of the event
Starting from 18:00 on February 28, 2024 (UTC time), the wallet containing Bitcoin confiscated by the US government in the Bitfinex hacking incident has become active after more than a year. Two addresses have successively transferred more than 15,085 bitcoins, with one address transferring more than 2,818 bitcoins and the other address transferring more than 12,267 bitcoins.
Next, we will use the Trustformer system to analyze the fund destination of these two active addresses and further investigate the on-chain address behavior of the final fund destination.
2 Event analysis
2.1 Address 14EGUfpkDaqe3b6dSkdfUxF3vondVS8kDQ
By using Trustformer’s Risk Detector product for address risk inquiry, it can be found that the TCR score of the address is 624 points, with a health score and good credit.
Click on the Tags to learn that the address is Bitfinex Hacker Seized Address, Entity ORG, U.S. Government, indicating that it is the entity address seized by the US government in the Bitfinex hacking incident. Recently Active and In Use indicate that the address has been active recently and is currently in use.
Click on the Historical Transactions module to know that the address in addition to the recent two transactions, the last active time is 2022–04–29 16:54:12
Next, we use Trustformer’s Trackr product to analyze the destination of the address’s funds in the past week, and it can be found that it transferred about 2,818 bitcoins to the address bc1qw8pd8qftyfv5d2waz90ulqn5hxxa79j934fmqe and did not continue to be active.
2.2 Address 1DNUjpHPNKMoKYBHxJz2Sh1uQQdJkGsXj5
Using Trustformer’s Risk Detector product for address risk inquiry, it can be found that the TCR score of the address is 784 points, which is also a health score and has good credit.
Similarly, clicking on Tags can reveal the addresses as Bitfinex Hacker Seized Address, Entity ORG, and U.S. Government, indicating that they are the entity addresses seized by the US government in the Bitfinex hacking incident. Recently Active and In Use indicate that the addresses have been active recently and are currently in use.
Next, we used Trustformer’s Trackr product to analyze the destination of the address’s funds in the past week, and found that it transferred about 12,267 bitcoins to the address bc1qkmk4v2xn29yge68fq6zh7gvfdqrvpq3v3p3y0s and did not continue to be active.
3 Event Summary
Conclusion:
In this incident, the US government address 14EGUfpkDaqe3b6dSkdfUxF3vondVS8kDQ transferred about 2,818 bitcoins to the unknown address bc1qw8pd8qftyfv5d2waz90ulqn5hxxa79j934fmqe, and the US government address 1DNUjpHPNKMoKYBHxJz2Sh1uQQdJkGsXj5 transferred about 12,267 bitcoins to the unknown address bc1qkmk4v2xn29yge68fq6zh7gvfdqrvpq3v3p3y0s, more than 15,085 bitcoins, which is more than 940 million dollars at the current price.
Suggestion:
The US government seized Bitcoin mainly for the following two reasons:
1. Crack down on illegal activities: Globally, the regulation of cryptocurrency is increasing. The US Treasury Department cracks down on terrorist organizations using cryptocurrency for money laundering and financing, that is, cracking down on illegal activities, especially those that use the anonymity of cryptocurrency for illegal activities.
2. Protecting the global financial system: The US government will take active measures to regulate and control cryptocurrency transactions in order to protect the global financial system and prevent financial risks. Normally, the US government sells seized bitcoins through auctions and other means.
For example, in 2013, the FBI seized a large amount of bitcoins when it shut down the Silk Road website, and subsequently sold them through multiple rounds of auctions. It is worth noting that the specific handling method will be determined based on specific circumstances and policies. Different cases may have different handling methods.
Therefore, when conducting cryptocurrency transactions, it is necessary to always pay attention to relevant regulations and policies.
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