Netflix to release a new documentary series on 2016’s Bitfinex hack

American subscription streaming service and production company Netflix has announced that it will release a documentary series about the historic Bitfinex attack, which resulted in a loss of 119,756 Bitcoin (BTC) worth $72 million at the time and was one of the largest financial crimes of 2016.

Netflix focuses on an NYC couple

The Netflix documentary will focus on a New York-based couple and their involvement in the laundering of roughly 120,000 BTC. The series will be directed by famous American filmmaker Chris Smith, and Nick Bilton will serve as co-executive producer, according to Netflix. 

iFinex Inc, which is based in the British Virgin Islands, owns and operates the famous crypto exchange platform Bitfinex. Multiple events have led to the theft or loss of their customers’ funds, the most serious of which occurred in 2016.

“Netflix has ordered a documentary series about a married couple’s alleged scheme to launder billions of dollars worth of stolen cryptocurrency in the biggest criminal financial crime case in history,” states the announcement.

Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, an NYC couple associated with the 120,000 BTC heist and their role in laundering the stolen assets, are the central characters in the storyline.

As per the data by TradingView, BTC prices have increased by more than 7415% in just five years following the Bitfinex attack.

“As the value of the stolen Bitcoin soared from $71 million at the time of the hack to nearly $5 billion,” Netflix reports, “the couple allegedly tried to liquidate their digital money by creating fake identities and online accounts and buying physical gold, NFTs, and more – all while investigators raced to track the money’s movement on the blockchain.”

This is not the first time crypto is being used in a show. Before this, the trending animated sitcom South Park also mentioned Bitcoin as the only payment mode while depicting the future in one of its episodes.