Bitfinex, a prominent cryptocurrency exchange, recently made an announcement on July 6 regarding a significant development involving the United States Department of Homeland Security.

In collaboration with the U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the department has seized a total of $312,219.71 in cash and 6.917 Bitcoin Cash.

According to Bitfinex representatives, this operation is part of their ongoing efforts to recover assets that were stolen from the exchange back in August 2016.

Furthermore, the U.S. government has been making notable progress in prosecuting individuals connected to the Bitfinex security breach and in confiscating funds associated with the theft.

The retrieved assets will be distributed to the victims of the 2016 Bitfinex hack on a pro-rated basis.

Following the security breach, Bitfinex had issued Recovery Rights Tokens (RRTs) with a par value of $1 each, and there are currently 30 million RRTs in circulation.

After redeeming the RRTs using the recovered assets, any remaining funds will be allocated to holders of Unus Sed Leo, Bitfinex’s native token.

The 2016 Bitfinex security breach resulted in the loss of approximately $70 million worth of Bitcoin, which would be valued at around $3.7 billion today.

On February 8, 2022, the U.S. Department of Justice apprehended two individuals, namely Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife, Heather Morgan, on charges of conspiring to launder cryptocurrency connected to the hack.

Subsequently, law enforcement agents were able to seize over 94,000 stolen BTC from the suspects after obtaining a search warrant that allowed them to access files containing the private keys to the suspects’ wallet.

The ongoing efforts to recover the funds are still underway.