Bitfinex Hacker Out of Prison After a Year Due to President Trump’s First Step Act

Ilya Lichtenstein, the man behind the 2016 Bitfinex bitcoin hack, has been released early from US federal prison on January 2, 2026, after serving roughly one year of a five-year sentence.   The release was granted following sentence reductions tied to Donald Trump’s First Step Act.   The Hacker Who Stole Over $10 Billion in Bitcoin Lichtenstein was sentenced in November 2024 for conspiracy to commit money laundering, linked to nearly 120,000 BTC stolen from the Bitfinex exchange.   At today’s prices, that haul is worth more than $10 billion, though most of the funds were later seized by US authorities source: https://beincrypto.com/bitfinex-hacker-early-release-trump-first-step-act/