Hacker Returns Over $6 Million in Stolen Cryptocurrency to US Government Wallet

Hacker Returns Over $6 Million in Stolen Cryptocurrency to US Government Wallet

In a surprising turn of events a hacker returned approximately $6.1 million worth of stolen digital assets to a US government wallet following a significant breach that occurred earlier on the same day. According to a report from Onchain Lens the hacker sent back around 13.19 million aUSDC and 2,408 ETH with valuations based on data from Arkham Intelligence.

The breach had initially led to the theft of over $20.7 million in digital assets from the US government crypto wallet. Among the stolen cryptocurrencies were 13.7 million aUSDC 5.44 million USDC 1.12 million USDT and 178 ETH which collectively amounted to approximately $447,000. Following the theft the hacker quickly converted $7.06 million of the stolen stablecoins into 2,764 ETH achieving an average price of $2,555 per ETH. Of the converted ETH 195.4 ETH worth about $493,000 was subsequently transferred to Binance deposit addresses.

Before returning a portion of the assets the hacker held 13.17 million aUSDC and 2,747 ETH which were distributed across three separate wallets. This government-controlled wallet notably holds part of the 120,000 Bitcoin that was seized from the 2016 Bitfinex hack a major incident in cryptocurrency history. During the Bitfinex breach hackers Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan allegedly stole billions in Bitcoin resulting in one of the largest recoveries in the Department of Justice's history.

Earlier in July the government had moved 29,800 Bitcoin valued at about $2 billion from Silk Road seizures to an undisclosed address which contributed to its total Bitcoin holdings of 179,155 BTC valued at approximately $12.14 billion. The return of the funds by the hacker raises questions about the motivations behind the breach and the overall security of government-held digital assets.