One year ago in August 2016, a group of hackers entered in the Bitfinex platform and stole about $70 mln in Bitcoin.
Bitfinex reacted in a solid way and in eight months it paid back its savers everything that was stolen (even though it had no obligation to cover the losses).
This was done by converting BFX token shares and/or repaying them to 100 (equal to the loss suffered by the savers).
Today, Bitfinex has $25 mln net earnings each month and its main purpose is to arrive at $50 mln in the near future.
Where are the stolen $70 mln?
Currently, they’re blocked on over 2000 Bitcoin addresses that Interpol and worldwide police control very strictly.
Those funds are secure, except for a small part that was identified.
Today that $70 mln in Bitcoin has a value of almost $600 mln due to the Bitcoin fork.
What is RRT token?
Last year, Bitfinex issued a token called RRT that entitles a refund of 100 in the event everything or a small part of the stolen Bitcoins should be found.
However, the 100 refund doesn’t match with the $600 mln, but with a lower value compared to the stolen Bitcoins, so we are talking about $30 mln. This is because RRTs were assigned only to investors who converted BFX tokens in October and November.
We need to remember that the token will rise in price if the probability that the hidden treasure will come to light increases.
Also, the thieves have a conundrum because those Bitcoin addresses are controlled and they cannot disappear with the stolen coins - today the value is significant.
The hackers could buy RRT tokens in an anonymous form and return the money.
In this case, they can earn $1 per token (RRT has a value of $0,07) with a huge profit and anonymously.
In fact, they could sell tokens for $1 each and buy Bitcoin or Zcash and disappear with a few million.
At that point the remaining money (just under $ 600 mln), as published by Bitfinex, would become the property of Bitfinex and its shareholders.
One of the biggest thefts ever?
In short, a platform which generates $25 mln net earnings per month (and so is worth at least $3 bln in market cap, or over $16 per share) could be found with an extra capital of $600 mln, and this in just 12 months after repaying the theft to its customers.
Is yesterday’s RRT token grown of about 100 percent in a few hours due to the usual summer pump or is there anything more important behind this news?
The secret of the hidden 2.0 treasure of Bitfinex continues, and we must follow the story of one of the biggest thefts the world has ever seen!
Article originally published by Paolo Barrai in Italian.