US moves Bitcoin worth USD 922 million

While the current crypto rally is driving the price of Bitcoin to heights that investors in the cryptocurrency have not seen for more than two years, the U.S. government is moving hundreds of millions of dollars of BTC.

In a series of transactions yesterday, Feb. 28, the US transferred a total of 15,085.01 BTC with an equivalent value of USD 922 million. The BTC transferred were from 2016 seizures that came into the possession of the US during the Bitfinex hack.

Just one day before the transfer, Bitfinex hacker Ilya Lichtenstein testified before a Washington D.C. court and explained how he was able to launder more than USD 4.5 billion worth of Bitcoin through Bitfinex. According to a Bloomberg report, Lichtenstein testified that he had been in control of Bitfinex for months while hacking the accounts of other crypto exchanges.

Last August, Lichtenstein and his partner Heather Morgan pleaded guilty. The two risk several years in prison. Bitfinex was the victim of another attack early this year, but the Bitfinex team led by CTO Paolo Ardoino managed to foil it.

Hacks, exploits and other attacks are common in the crypto space. Just a few days ago, there was an attack on MicroStrategy's X account that caused a total of more than $400,000 in damage.