US prosecutors have asked for court approval to return nearly $10 billion in bitcoin recovered from the 2016 Bitfinex hack.

According to a court filing, federal prosecutors plan to transfer 80% of the 119,754 bitcoins (Bitcoin) was recovered from the hack of cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex back to the platform.

Government investigators seized 94,643 Bitcoins from Ilya Lichtenstein, the person who hacked Bitfinex in 2016 and laundered the proceeds with his partner Heather “RazzleKhan” Morgan.

The BTC cache was extracted from the original wallet used by Lichtenstein during the hack. Therefore, it could be returned “as compensation in kind,” the plaintiffs wrote to a federal judge. Back in October, federal attorneys Argue That Bitfinex may be the only victim, paving The method of this distribution plan is in accordance with United States law.

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The remaining assets, which amount to about 25,000 BTC, may be difficult to return. In the filing, prosecutors explained that Lichtenstein and Morgan deposited portions of the stolen tokens on cryptocurrency mixers, darknet marketplaces, and other “technologically sophisticated” platforms.

Because of these money laundering attempts, the money cannot be returned directly. The Department of Justice has proposed an additional forfeiture process to recover the remaining Bitcoin, although the timeline for this process remains unclear.

Lichtenstein and Morgan stole nearly 120,000 bitcoins from Bitfinex in 2016 — valuables now worth about $12 billion. Authorities arrested Lichtenstein in February 2022, and he pleaded guilty to money laundering conspiracy charges in 2023.

Lichtenstein was sentenced to five years in prison, while Morgan was sentenced to prison imprisoned For 18 months.