The MacBook Pro belonging to an Internal Revenue Service employee who tracked down and seized 120,000 bitcoins stolen from cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex in 2016 is now in the collection of the world-famous Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC.
“Laptops are central to criminal cases that demonstrate the evolution of our understanding of cryptocurrencies,” said Ellen Feingold, curator of the National Numismatic Collection (NNC). explained In a Nov. 18 article in Smithsonian Magazine.
The laptop is owned by former IRS special agent Chris Janczewski, who now leads global investigations at blockchain intelligence firm TRM Labs. Janczewski helped uncover 120,000 Bitcoin (BTC) keys stolen from Bitfinex by Ilya Lichtenstein, who was sentenced to five years in prison for hacking earlier this month.
“He treated the blockchain as a digital crime scene and was ultimately able to identify the suspected perpetrators, search their homes, and seize the digital files on their laptops.”
Lichtenstein hacked Bitfinex, and his wife Heather Morgan (also known as the rapper's alter ego “Razulkan”) later helped launder the stolen Bitcoins. She was also sentenced to 18 months in prison earlier this month.
Chris Janczewski's laptop will be on display at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History. Source: Smithsonian Magazine
“This landmark case was significant not only because of the amount seized, but also because we were able to apprehend the perpetrator,” Feingold added.
Ministry of Justice said In 2022, authorities made the “largest financial seizure in history” of Bitcoin holdings, then worth $3.6 billion.
The idea for Janczewski's laptop to be displayed at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History came from Judge Zia Faruqui, who wrote a letter to the NNC to raise awareness and point out the importance of the Bitfinex lawsuit.
The NNC has been documenting how coinage has evolved since at least the time of ancient Mesopotamia, and has a collection of more than 1.6 million items.
Related: Bitfinex Securities Debuts Tokenized U.S. Treasury Bills Under El Salvador Law
Feingold said the digital nature of bitcoin makes it difficult to collect physical objects to document its evolution.
So far, NCC has collected one Bitcoin magazine, two physical Bitcoin tokens with a hologram on the back containing a private key, and two pieces of 3D printed Bitcoin jewelry.
“There are so many fascinating historical items in our collection vaults that it’s easy to overlook what’s happening with money right now.”
Feingold said that Bitcoin “offered an attractive alternative” after many people lost faith in banks and governments after the 2008 financial crisis, and said that more Bitcoin-related topics were available at NCC. He insisted that the item be taken up.
Janczewski's laptop will be displayed in the National Museum of American History's “The Value of Money” gallery, which is scheduled to reopen in late 2024.
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