Cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex was hacked in 2016. Back then, the trading platform lost 119,756 BTC, which were valued at $67.47 million. However, these coins eventually began to be valued in the billions.


For example, as of today, this amount of coins translates to 11.19 billion. This is helped by the fresh record Bitcoin exchange rate from last night, which now stands at $93,905.

The perpetrators of the incident were Ilya Lichtenstein and his wife Heather Morgan, who were discovered by law enforcement in February 2022. The funny thing is that the couple didn’t exactly hide their relationship to the incident.

Hackers Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, who hacked the Bitfinex crypto exchange in 2016

In particular, Morgan had an active life on social media. Well, in one TikTok video, she confirmed that she had something to do with stealing the equivalent of $4.5 billion worth of bitcoins.

On top of that, she made questionable music videos and shared them on YouTube under the stage name Razzlekhan. Here’s an example of what Heather was posting.

Now a famous museum in Washington, D.C., will house a laptop that was used by an IRS employee to track the movement of stolen assets.

The biggest bitcoin thefts

It was this MacBook Pro that helped IRS agent Chris Janczewski track down 120,000 bitcoins, which were then confiscated.

As museum officials point out, the laptop was a key component of the criminal case. Here’s a quote from National Numismatic Collection curator Ellen Feingold on the matter, as quoted by Cointelegraph.

The laptop is the centrepiece of a criminal case that shows the evolution of understanding of what is happening with cryptocurrencies.

The laptop used in the search for bitcoins stolen from Bitfinex

Janczewski’s credit for this case has been incredible. Here’s a comment on his attitude towards the case.

He treated the blockchain as a digital crime scene. This is what ultimately allowed him to identify the alleged perpetrators, search their home, and download their digital files onto his laptop.


The couple were sentenced in November 2024. Specifically, Heather Morgan was sentenced to 18 months in prison for her role in laundering stolen cryptocurrency.

The punishment for Ilya Lichtestein was more substantial given his involvement directly in the hack. He received 5 years in prison.

Feingold continues.

This landmark case was significant not only because of the amount of money seized, but also because of the apprehension of the criminals.

As a reminder, Justice Department officials noted in 2022 after the criminals were caught that the case was “the largest financial seizure in the agency’s history.”

A laptop to be displayed at the Smithsonian Museum because of its connection to the search for stolen bitcoins

The idea to place the laptop in the Smithsonian Museum belongs to Judge Zia Faruqi. She approached the National Numismatic Collection to raise public awareness about the Bitfinex cryptocurrency exchange hack. In addition, it would help to celebrate the significance of the investigation into the offence.

The appeal was justified, as the NOC has been documenting the evolution of money since Mesopotamia. In total, the organisation has been able to collect around 1.6 million items on the subject – and objects related to Bitcoin and its history are clearly not out of place.

According to Ellen Feingold, the first cryptocurrency is characterised by its digital nature, which makes it much more difficult to collect physical objects to record the development of Bitcoin.

For example, so far representatives of the collection have collected a Bitcoin Magazine, two physical BTCs with a corresponding hologram on the back of the coins with private keys, as well as two Bitcoin jewellery pieces created on a 3D printer.

The first issue of Bitcoin Magazine

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She continues.

With so many impressive historical objects in the collection’s vault, it’s easy to lose sight of what’s happening with money in the present.

Finally, Feingold is in favour of increasing the number of Bitcoin-related items in the collection. Still, the first cryptocurrency is a “compelling alternative” for ordinary people who lost trust in governments and banks after the global financial crisis in 2008.

Meanwhile, the number of people wanting to get involved with Bitcoin and digital assets in general is growing. Last night, the head of video platform Rumble, Chris Pawlowski, asked his Twitter followers whether his company should buy BTC as its own assets.

Pawlowski’s readers predominantly supported the initiative, as evidenced by the poll results.

Chris Pawlowski’s poll on whether or not Rumble should buy bitcoins

Additionally, MicroStrategy co-founder and former MicroStrategy executive Michael Saylor responded to the tweet. He supported the initiative and offered to chat about reasons to buy bitcoins along with ways to make such investments. Pawlowski responded positively and stated that he is already writing to Saylor in private messages.


Cryptocurrencies are becoming much more popular all over the world, which is noticeable even in such little things. Well, if the newly elected US government really approves Bitcoin as a reserve asset for the state, then the perception of digital assets by the general masses will become much more positive.

Look for more interesting things in our crypto chat room. In it we will talk about other important topics that influence the course of the current bullrun in the crypto industry.

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