Big news in the Bitcoin world. The historic Bitcoin theft case involving Bitfinex's mastermind Ilya Lichtenstein was recently announced on X that he has been released early, citing the benefits of the First Step Act signed by U.S. President Trump in 2018—this law allows inmates to earn sentence reductions by participating in rehabilitation programs.

The story goes like this: Lichtenstein was sentenced to 5 years in prison for involvement in money laundering nearly 120,000 Bitcoins, which were worth about $4.5 billion at the time of the incident—truly staggering. His wife Heather Morgan (online alias Razzlekhan), as an accomplice, was sentenced to 18 months for assisting in criminal activities, and she was released early in October 2025.

This case has been a hot topic in the cryptocurrency community since it broke, with the large amount of Bitcoin involved and the complex money laundering techniques leaving a deep impression. Now that both main figures have been released one after another, it prompts a renewed reflection on the role of the legal system and rehabilitation programs within the U.S. judicial system.