2 years ago
The betterment of the stolen BTC from the 2016 Bitfinex hack was the quality of the day. That story’s protagonists, though, they’re legends successful the making. You tin already archer that Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan volition unrecorded everlastingly successful meme form. The communicative is truthful improbable that galore radical successful the Bitcoin assemblage are doubtful that it happened arsenic reported.
Related Reading | Bitcoin Stolen From Bitfinex Hack Moved For The First Time In Five Years
Could this tech entrepreneur and this writer/ rapper person hacked a cryptocurrency exchange? Or are they conscionable the wealth launderers for a bigger operation? And, did they truly prevention the backstage keys to billions successful BTC connected the cloud? Or were they acceptable up? Is instrumentality enforcement playing tricks connected the nationalist oregon are they the heroes of the day?
Imagine being a hacker (or wealth launderer) and keeping the unencrypted backstage keys to $3.5billion of #Bitcoin successful an online relationship linked to your name
Mind blown 🤯
— Alistair Milne (@alistairmilne) February 8, 2022
We can’t reply those questions astatine the moment. What we tin bash is research the Bitfinex hackers’ societal media to get a consciousness of who they are. But first, a summary.
What’s The Bitfinex Hack All About? And, Why Is It Relevant Now?
The “Statement Of Facts” disposable astatine the justice.gov website does a bully occupation mounting the stage:
“In oregon astir August 2016, a hacker breached Victim VCE’s information systems and infiltrated its infrastructure. While wrong Victim VCE’s network, the hacker was capable to initiate implicit 2,000 unauthorized BTC transactions, successful which astir 119,754 BTC was transferred from Victim VCE’s wallets4 to an extracurricular wallet (Wallet 1CGA4s5 ). At the clip of the breach, 119,754 BTC was valued astatine astir $71 million. Due to the summation successful the value6 of BTC since the breach, the stolen funds are valued astatine implicit $4.5 cardinal arsenic of February 2022.“
That wealth ended up successful a Bitcoin code associated with Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, but announcement that instrumentality enforcement ne'er says they’re the Bitfinex hackers. In fact, the mates has lone been charged with wealth laundering. But, what’s the communicative here? Our sister tract Bitcoinist does a bully occupation thickening the plot:
“The suspects were arrested successful Manhattan, New York. Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco called the arrest, 1 of the largest successful presumption of fiscal seizure successful history.
In that sense, the authorities authoritative stated that Bitcoin and cryptocurrencies are not a “safe haven” for criminals. The connection contradicts others made by nationalist officials, specified arsenic Senator Elizabeth Warren, which person emphasized the alleged usage of crypto successful transgression activities. Monaco added:
“In a futile effort to support integer anonymity, the defendants laundered stolen funds done a labyrinth of cryptocurrency transactions. Thanks to the meticulous enactment of instrumentality enforcement, the section erstwhile again showed however it tin and volition travel the money, nary substance what signifier it takes.”
Imagine sitting connected $4,000,000,000 successful stolen bitcoin, knowing you're being hunted by federation states, and deciding that NYC is simply a astute spot to spread up.
— Jameson Lopp (@lopp) February 8, 2022
Who Is Dutch Ilya Lichtenstein?
Reportedly, Ilya Lichtenstein is simply a tech entrepreneur and YCombinator alum. In his Twitter, helium defines himself arsenic a “Human angel investor, web3 developer, serial entrepreneur.” In his astir important tweet, Dutch criticizes a New York Magazine nonfiction by saying, “Oh deity no. So galore words astir posering connected Twitter, astir thing astir however to unafraid your keys, nonstop a transaction oregon get a Defi loan.”
Oh deity no. So galore words astir posering connected Twitter, astir thing astir however to unafraid your keys, nonstop a transaction oregon get a Defi loan. @atsaraharrison Why??? https://t.co/vTU7w7xfsm
— Dutch Lichtenstein (@unrealdutch) November 30, 2021
Does that look similar the Bitfinex hacker to you? Or, much importantly, does that look similar a idiosyncratic who would store his backstage keys successful the cloud? We wouldn’t know. However, the justice.org study says:
“On January 31, 2022, instrumentality enforcement gained entree to Wallet 1CGA4s by decrypting a record saved to LICHTENSTEIN’s unreality retention account,8 which had been obtained pursuant to a hunt warrant. The record contained a database of 2,000 virtual currency addresses, on with corresponding backstage keys.9 Blockchain investigation confirmed that astir all10 of those addresses were straight linked to the hack.”
Bitfinex hackers… LOL… yea definite pic.twitter.com/rFKwm3Eico
— Psychedelic El ₿arto (@PsychedelicBart) February 8, 2022
In immoderate case, successful an nonfiction titled “Rethinking the Ethereum Wallet for Mass Adoption,” successful the “People are terrified of hackers and malware” section, Ilya Lichtenstein says:
Related Reading | All Altcoin Innovations Will “Ultimately Benefit Bitcoin”: Bitfinex Whale
“The biggest menace to wide adoption is without a doubt, security. It’s inactive mode excessively hard to decently unafraid plain substance backstage keys without making a mistake on the way. We cannot expect mainstream users to beryllium information experts successful a satellite wherever the astir communal password is inactive “123456”. Security needs to beryllium built successful to the merchandise by design, not near up the user.”
Who Is Heather Morgan AKA Razzlekhan?
Reportedly, Heather Morgan is simply a palmy copywriter who grew her ain concern without extracurricular investors. On her Twitter page, she defines herself arsenic a “Serial entrepreneur. SaaS Investor. Razzlekhan. Surrealist Artist, Rapper & Fashion Designer with synesthesia. Also Forbes writer.”
Her astir important tweet says: “Good guiding compass to unrecorded by: How overmuch of a POSITIVE IMPACT does your beingness person connected others, including nine & nature?”
Good guiding compass to unrecorded by:
How overmuch of a POSITIVE IMPACT does your beingness person connected others, including nine & nature?
— Heather R Morgan (rzk.eth) (@HeatherReyhan) January 15, 2022
The crushed she’s overmuch much absorbing than her hubby is her rap change ego, Razzlekhan. Her videos are not disposable connected YouTube anymore, but you tin inactive listen to the songs connected Soundcloud. And, immoderate Twitter users captured clips of the videos earlier they disappeared:
This is who stole 120k from the bitfinex hack https://t.co/CixE4XLbzj pic.twitter.com/Qm4dBeDq0I
— RSN (@puttinyadown) February 8, 2022
Below, there’s different track. Above, there’s a illustration of the couple’s Tik Tok content:
— Warren Buckets 🔺 (@shillingbears) February 8, 2022
More absorbing yet, though, is Morgan’s vocation arsenic a Forbes writer. In her nonfiction titled “Experts Share Tips To Protect Your Business From Cybercriminals,” the expected Bitfinex hacker says:
“Companies that didn’t already person distributed teams oregon enactment from location policies person struggled to modulation to going afloat distant amidst the pandemic.
Cybercriminals and fraudsters are taking vantage of this unexpected disruption, starring to a spike successful scams and cybercrime.”
Protect your institution and clients from cyber crimes. BitGo's Chief Compliance Officer, Matt Parrella, discusses strategies with @HeatherReyhan. Experts Share Tips To Protect Your Business From Cybercriminals via @forbes https://t.co/MaNzge6vKq
— BitGo (@BitGo) June 18, 2020
Wacky euphony aside, does that dependable similar a idiosyncratic who would launder wealth done acquisition cards registered to her existent name? We wouldn’t know, but the justice.org study says:
“Records showed that portions of the $500 acquisition paper were past redeemed done 3 transactions for idiosyncratic items via the Walmart iPhone application. Each of the 3 redemptions were conducted online nether MORGAN’s name, utilizing 1 of MORGAN’s email addresses, and providing MORGAN and LICHTENSTEIN’s location code for delivery.”
What Does The Twitterati Think About The Alleged Bitfinex Hackers?
Bitcoin capitalist Alistair Milne questions the couple’s Opsec, “Imagine being a hacker (or wealth launderer) and keeping the unencrypted backstage keys to $3.5billion of Bitcoin successful an online relationship linked to your name.” Bitcoin information adept Jameson Lopp questions their prime of location, “Imagine sitting connected $4,000,000,000 successful stolen bitcoin, knowing you’re being hunted by federation states, and deciding that NYC is simply a astute spot to spread up.”
Featured Image: The alleged Bitfinex hackers from this tweet | Charts by TradingView
English (US) 