(Bitfinex) Unus Sed Leo, a cryptocurrency issued by Bitfinex Exchange after the 2016 hack, rose up to 59% after the US Department of Justice announced the recoveries of stolen $36 billion worth of Bitcoin.
Following the surge, LEO hit a price of $7.91, pushing the total market value of the token to $7.2 billion, more than triple the issuance value of $2 billion.
Bitfinex says it will use around 80% of the recovered funds to buy back and burn outstanding LEO tokens within 18 months.
Institutional crypto-platform FRNT Financial co-founder and CEO Stephane Ouellette says the recovery will have a huge impact on the crypto space in the future as it shows that a hack that has lasted about 6 years can still be recovered.
The Justice Department announced the arrest of two people in the largest financial seizure, saying that they will take the suspects in could.
LEO token was issued in 2019 to beef up coffers of Bitfinex following the hack, in which about $4.5 billion worth of Bitcoin was stolen. Bitfinex gave the LEO tokens to the affected customers at one coin for each $1 lost.
LEOUSD is currently down -1.84%.
