The US Government mandated on Wednesday that 120,000 Bitcoin, roughly $11.87 billion, recovered from the Bitfinex hack, should be returned to its legitimate owners.

"Such voluntary restitution should include all of the assets seized from the Bitfinex Hack Wallet and that, pursuant to the plea agreements, those assets should be returned to Bitfinex as in-kind restitution," a filing showed.

On August 2, 2016, Bitfinex suffered a security breach, resulting in the theft of 119,755 BTC. The US Department of Justice announced on February 8, 2022, that it had recovered a significant portion of the stolen bitcoin.