UK Court Asks Bitfinex to Freeze a Bitcoin Balance Linked to Ransomware Proceeds

Ransomware has proven to be an incredibly lucrative solution for cyber criminals. Most of these ventures end in a certain amount of Bitcoin changing hands between criminal and victim. 

Not all of the proceeds from ransomware attacks can be cashed out, however.

A Ransomware Deal Gone bad

In the case of Bitfinex, several of its transactions have been flagged as suspicious.

So much even that roughly $860,000 worth of Bitcoin has now been frozen by a UK court.

This sum of parts of a bigger ransomware-related payment of $950,000 worth of Bitcoin. 

The victim of the attack is a company who was asked to pay $1.2 million by the culprits.

Through its insurer, a payment was made, yet the insurer wanted to have some sort of recourse.

By filing a claim against the culprits and exchange the funds were sent to, a major precedent has been created.

Some of the money was successfully converted to fiat, yet the reset were sent to Bitfinex.

As such, the exchange is now ordered to effectively freeze this funds as this court case trucks along.

Chainalysis, a renowned blockchain analysis firm, was instrumental in racking the Bitcoin transactions associated with this ransomware incident. 

Bitfinex confirms it is working with the UK court to track the bitcoins and the person responsible for sending them tot he exchnage.