Stolen Bitfinex BTC Is on the Move

Stolen bitcoins have been spotted moving on the blockchain after three years of lying dormant.

In a series of transactions beginning at 06:00 UTC Friday, 172.54 BTC or about $1.37 million moved from a wallet that had previously held funds taken in the 2016 Bitfinex hack.

The theft, which cost the exchange $60 million, remains unsolved.

They continued throughout the day, ending with a $137,514 transaction at 19:47 UTC. 17.03 #BTC of stolen funds transferred from Bitfinex Hack 2016 to unknown wallet.

Hard Fork posited that the move was connected with Bitfinex's Leo token, which allows for the anonymous return of stolen funds.

Bitfinex spokesperson Anneka Dew denied that the exchange was involved in the move.

Given the anonymous nature of bitcoin wallets, these moves are the only evidence of hacker activity after the theft.

They can be used for forensic analysis by blockchain sleuths but often instead result in money laundering activity to hide the funds' ultimate destination.

The Bitfinex theft was the largest loss of bitcoins by an exchange since the Mt. Gox hack in early 2014.

In February of this year, U.S. law enforcement retrieved 27.66270285 BTC that had been taken from Bitfinex.