Bitfinex has offered a reward for the return, or info leading to the return, of the Bitcoin stolen in the recent hack.
Reddit user someguy916 posted in the /r/Bitcoin subreddit inquiring as to how much of a reward Bitfinex would be willing to offer for the stolen coins. Zane Tackett, Director of Community and Product development, responded with an offer for a small percentage:
“5% of recovery and for information leading to recovery (but no bounty if no recovery); if multiple persons lead to recovery, share pro rata”
When pressed to get that offer into a blockchain contract, Tackett responded that he would respond when he could give a more definite answer.
The hack resulted in the loss of 119,756 BTC, or about $70 million in Bitcoin. The offered 5% would amount to about 5,988 BTC, or $3.5 million. Quite a sum, to be sure, but it still pales in comparison with the scope of the amount lost in the hack.
Bitcoin loss to be “socialized” among customers
Bitfinex plans to spread the $70 million loss, quite a significant chunk of the company’s total holdings, among its customers. This will result in a 36% loss for each customer, who will be issued tokens to be redeemed as the company is able to reimburse fo the losses.
However, the recovery may turn complicated. Emin Gün Sirer, a Cornell University professor and co-founder of IC3, after speaking to a lawyer, has stated that the loss socialization scheme will not hold up in court.
Whether or not a Bitfinex user will sue the company, or what, if any, restitution such a lawsuit could produce, remains to be seen.
Not Bitfinex’s first hack and theft
This is not the first time Bitfinex has been subject to a hack. One year ago, a hacker successfully compromised the exchange’s hot wallet, stealing about 1,500 BTC.
Luckily, this only amounted to 0.5% of Bitcoin holdings at the time, the rest being stored in secure multisig wallets, meaning that customers were largely unaffected.