Bitfinex
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anchored·43sRdZ…HSRASummary
Bitfinex is one of the oldest operating cryptocurrency exchanges, founded in December 2012 and operated by iFinex Inc. It has been subject to multiple confirmed regulatory actions including CFTC fines and a New York Attorney General settlement, and suffered a major 2016 security breach in which 119,756 BTC were stolen — a hack whose perpetrators were subsequently convicted and from which approximately 94,000 BTC were ordered returned to Bitfinex by a U.S. federal court in 2025. The exchange does not serve U.S. residents and holds limited tier-one regulatory licensing.
Connected Entities
1 entityNo connected entities recorded yet — this investigation is not currently linked to any other page in the index.
Timeline(17 events)
1 December 2012
Bitfinex founded by Raphael Nicolle as a peer-to-peer Bitcoin exchange, operated by iFinex Inc.
Wikipedia: Bitfinex1 January 2015
Bitfinex proactively contacted the CFTC regarding a potential investigation into its margin trading practices.
CFTC Press Release 7380-162 June 2016
CFTC ordered Bitfinex to pay $75,000 for offering illegal off-exchange financed retail commodity transactions and failing to register as an FCM.
CFTC Press Release 7380-162 August 2016
Bitfinex suffered a security breach; 119,756 BTC (approximately $72 million) stolen. Exchange socialized losses across all customers via a 36% haircut and issued BFX debt tokens.
Wikipedia: 2016 Bitfinex Hack3 April 2017
Bitfinex fully redeemed all outstanding BFX tokens at $1 face value, completing repayment to customers within approximately eight months of the hack.
Bitfinex Blog: 100% Redemption of Outstanding BFX Tokens1 January 2017
Bitfinex ceased serving U.S. residents, citing banking difficulties and the cost of U.S. regulatory compliance.
CoinTelegraph: Bitfinex Fires U.S. Customers1 April 2019
New York Attorney General commenced investigation into iFinex, alleging Bitfinex secretly borrowed approximately $850 million from Tether reserves to cover payment processor losses.
CoinDesk: NY AG's $850M Probe1 May 2019
iFinex launched the UNUS SED LEO token in a $1 billion initial exchange offering.
iFinex LEO Token White Paper23 February 2021
Bitfinex and Tether settled with the NYAG for $18.5 million, without admitting or denying wrongdoing. Both entities agreed to stop serving New York residents and to provide quarterly reserve disclosures for two years.
CNBC: Tether, Bitfinex Reach Settlement15 October 2021
CFTC ordered Bitfinex to pay $1.5 million and Tether to pay $41 million (total $42.5 million) for illegal retail commodity transactions and misleading reserve disclosures, respectively.
CFTC Press Release 8450-218 February 2022
DOJ announced the largest financial seizure in U.S. history — over $3.6 billion in BTC traced to the 2016 Bitfinex hack — and charged Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan with money laundering conspiracy.
CoinDesk: US Officials Seize Bitcoin from 2016 Bitfinex Hack1 August 2023
Ilya Lichtenstein admitted in court to being the perpetrator of the 2016 Bitfinex hack.
Wikipedia: 2016 Bitfinex Hack14 November 2024
Ilya Lichtenstein sentenced to 60 months in federal prison; Heather Morgan sentenced to 18 months. Both sentences related to money laundering conspiracy involving the 2016 Bitfinex hack.
DOJ Press Release: Bitfinex Hacker Sentenced1 January 2025
Bitfinex Derivatives received a Digital Asset Service Provider license from El Salvador's CNAD. U.S. prosecutors also filed a motion for approximately 94,000 recovered BTC to be returned to Bitfinex.
Bitfinex Blog: El Salvador Licence25 February 2025
Federal restitution hearing in which a U.S. court recognized Bitfinex as the sole victim of the 2016 hack and ordered return of approximately 94,643 BTC (then valued at approximately $9 billion).
BeInCrypto: Bitfinex Hack Update 202517 April 2026
U.S. government continued transferring BTC linked to the 2016 hack to Coinbase as part of the ongoing return process.
CoinDesk: U.S. Government Moves Bitcoin Linked to Hack to Coinbase12 May 2026
Bitfinex announced an expanded licence from El Salvador's CNAD covering both spot and derivatives activity.
Cryptonomist: Bitfinex El Salvador Licence ExpandsDecision Log
- hash: 2ALXLQdnMRn8TTaN8uMqNQp6jTCTWUTnV1CTuYdwH3FW
This investigation is cryptographically anchored to the Solana blockchain (1 event). 19 of 20 cited source URLs have an Internet Archive snapshot.
model: claude-sonnet-4-6
generated: 9/27/2026, 12:05:44 PM
last updated: 9/27/2026, 1:37:24 PM
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