U.S. Government Crypto Wallet Hacked, Loses $20M to Hackers
Hackers Compromise U.S. Government-Linked Wallet in Connection to Bitfinex Hack
Recent on-chain activity shows hackers may have successfully compromised a cryptocurrency wallet linked to the U.S. government, stealing nearly $20 million worth of digital assets.
Blockchain analytics firm Arkham has connected the breach to an address named in the court documents relating to the infamous Bitfinex hack of 2016.
How U.S Government Hack Occurred
Arkham intel and ZachXBT highlighted the incident, flagging suspicious on-chain activity involving the U.S. government-linked wallet, identified as 0xc9E6…C34c. The attackers partially emptied the wallet, which holds over $14 billion in various crypto assets, including USDC, USDT, aUSDC, and Ethereum.
The attackers managed to cart away about $13.70 million worth of AUSDC, $5.45 million in USDC, $1.125 million in USDT, and 177.892 ETH, valued at approximately $446,920.
The funds transferred from stolen funds to a wallet, 0x3486eE700CcaF3E2F9C5eC9730a2e916a4740A9f, which they believe belongs to the hackers, according to Blockchain data.
According to Arkham, the attackers have started selling the assets and laundering the proceeds through suspicious addresses, potentially linked to a money laundering service.
Hack Linked to Bitfinex Seized Funds
The hack involves one of the U.S. government-controlled wallets with funds confiscated from Bitfinex. The address 0xc9E…C34c has received seized assets from at least one wallet mentioned in the Bitfinex court case documents.
In 2016, Bitfinex, a cryptocurrency exchange, was hacked by Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, who stole roughly $6 billion worth of Bitcoin in what remains one of the most infamous cybercrimes to date.
Prior to this hack, the U.S. government wallet had already withdrawn over $6.5 million from the decentralized finance platform Aave. Additionally, Etherscan records reveal that the government paid up to $1,000 in Ethereum fees to move around $100,000 in crypto showing heightened activity before the hack.
The full extent of the breach remains unclear, as this is a developing story. The US government is yet to issue a public statement about the incident. This incident however underscores the vulnerability of crypto assets, whether government-held or privately owned.
