Bitfinex, a well-known cryptocurrency exchange recently surprised the world by announcing to offer $400 million for the return of stolen Bitcoins worth $1.33 billion. The Bitcoins or BTC were stolen from the exchange by hackers way back in 2016.
Paolo Ardoino, CTO, Bitfinex confirmed that the reward of $400 million is for any person, who would help Bitfinex connect with those hackers responsible for the unauthorized transaction of close to 120000 bitcoins. Ardoino also said that the hackers will receive a share from the returned bitcoins.
Bitcoins are ever-growing in popularity, as the most trending currency for online transactions. While Bitcoins are synonymous with cryptocurrency, BTC is, in fact, one of the earliest cryptos, which was worth $650 in 2016. However, the present value of BTC is $11,000, which is approximately 1600% increase in its value when compared to its worth in August 2016.
In connection to the stolen funds, authorities had recovered close to $300000 worth of the pilfered Bitcoins in February 2019. Nonetheless, Bitfinex believes the reward of $400 million, which accounts for 30% of the total stolen BTC, may lure anyone connected to the hackers, or the hackers themselves to return the stolen Bitcoins (BTC).
While this is not the first time Bitfinex has offered monetary rewards for recovering the pilfered funds, the exchange had previously offered a $3.5 million accounting to approximately 5% of the stolen BTC in 2016.
In a recent press release, Bitfinex stated that the reward would be handed to any person after confirming the identification of the concerned hackers. While the hackers would receive 25% of the recovered funds that were pilfered, informants providing authentic contact details of the hackers responsible for the theft will receive 5% of the recovered funds or its equivalent at the present market rate.
Bitfinex further confirmed that the exchange will make sure to protect the identities of all the parties involved in returning the stolen BTC. Nevertheless, only time will tell if the reward of $400 million will result in the successful recovery of the stolen funds or not.
