In a recent twist, a hacker responsible for stealing nearly $20 million worth of cryptocurrency from a U.S. government-controlled wallet has returned most of the funds.
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT reported that the hacker transferred approximately 2,408 ETH and 13.19 million aUSDC back to the government’s wallet earlier today, totaling around $19 million.
The breach initially led to a significant loss of assets, including stablecoins like USDC, USDT, aUSDC, and Ethereum, which were seized as part of the U.S. government’s 2016 Bitfinex hack investigation.
Hacker Returns $19 million, Source: X
According to data from Arkham Intelligence, the hack targeted a government-linked address that held funds from nine separate seizure accounts. The hacker moved the assets from this address, 0xc9E6, to their own wallet, 0x3486, and reportedly began converting the stolen funds to ETH.
Some of these assets were then routed through decentralized platforms like Aave and suspicious transactions linked to a known money-laundering service, raising concerns about potential laundering activities.
While the hacker’s restitution covers approximately 88% of the stolen value, with $19.3 million recovered within 24 hours, roughly $700,000 remains unaccounted for, and may have been transferred to exchanges such as Switchain or HitBTC.
The quick and partial return of funds raises questions about the hacker’s motives and highlights concerns over the security of government-held digital assets.
