Bitfinex offers a reward of 400 million US dollars, the stolen 120,000 BTC is expected to be recovered?

Editor's Note: This article comes fromBabbitt Information (ID: bitcoin8btc)Editor's Note: This article comes from

Babbitt Information (ID: bitcoin8btc)

Babbitt Information (ID: bitcoin8btc)

If you had $1.3 billion worth of bitcoins stolen by hackers, how would you go about getting it back?

That's the question posed to cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex.

Today, Bitfinex, which stole 119,755 BTC in 2016, issued an announcement stating that if the hackers are willing to return the bitcoins, the exchange is willing to provide funds worth $400 million in return.

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win-win situation?

Last month, blockchain data tracker Whale Alert noticed that 476 BTC stolen by hackers had been transferred to an unknown digital wallet, indicating that someone still controls the huge sum.

In 2016, the nearly 120,000 BTC stolen from Bitfinex was worth about $71 million at the time, and today, 4 years later, the value of these bitcoins has grown to $1.34 billion.

In response, Bitfinex Chief Technology Officer Paolo Ardoino tweeted to the hackers:

"Let's work this out together, a win-win situation."

Will it really be that simple?

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Bitfinex Says Cannot Guarantee Government Action, Hacks Or Risk Criminal Charges

It is reported that for 4 years, Bitfinex has been cooperating with law enforcement agencies to track hackers, but these tracking actions are still fruitless, and today’s announcement by Bitfinex seems a bit intriguing.

In the announcement, Bitfinex advised hackers to first send a small portion of the stolen funds to a wallet designated by Bitfinex to prove that they own the bitcoins. In addition, the exchange added:

"We will work hard to ensure this can be done safely so that the identities of all parties are protected."

As for whether the hackers will be prosecuted, Bitfinex told PCMag:

"Criminal charges are usually the prerogative of governments, and we have no control over what governments do or don't do about hackers."

Obviously, even after the hacker returns the bitcoins, he may still be subject to criminal charges, and since the fiat currency account is very easy to be frozen, this transaction is not as simple as it seems.