Blockchain analytics bot Whale Alerts has raised alarm over a series of Bitcoin transfers tied to the infamous Bitfinex hack of 2016.
A combined 10,057 BTC valued at over $620 million moved today after being largely inactive since 2016. In the past hour, a total of 63 Bitcoin transfers between 50 BTC and 1,241.37 BTC have been reported by Whale Alerts. So far, the largest transaction was approximately 1,241.37 BTC, which is over $78 million at current market prices.
The first transfer of 300 BTC was detected by the blockchain bot at 17:06:28 UTC. Coincidentally, the hacker began moving funds right at the heel of the Coinbase exchange listing on Nasdaq. The hacker has been largely silent since November 2020.
As a backstory, the hacker(s) stole a whopping 120,000 BTC from Bitfinex in August 2016. The hacker has been struggling ever since to sell the blacklisted funds. In 2020, the hacker tried to dispose of 736 BTC via a Russian darknet market.
According to several industry players, it will be almost impossible for the hacker to sell the stolen coins since no major exchange will accept the funds. Meanwhile, Bitfinex offered a $400 million reward last year for returning the stolen funds.