Bitcoin Tumbles After FBI Recovers Colonial Pipeline Ransom

The Price of bitcoin tumbled as much as 12% on Tuesday to trade around $31,500 per coin.

The fall may have been a result of security concerns after US authorities clawed back $2.3 million (63.7 bitcoin) of the $4.3 million Colonial Pipeline attack crypto ransom from hackers, according to an affidavit.

The money was recovered by the Department of Justice’s recently launched Ransomware and Digital Extortion Task Force.

At a briefing discussing the ransomware attack, FBI Deputy Director Paul Abbate said agents were able to recover a digital currency wallet that “DarkSide” hackers used to collect payment from Colonial Pipeline.

Using law enforcement authority, victim funds were seized from that wallet, preventing Dark Side actors from using them,” Abbate said.

The FBI declined to say exactly how it accessed the bitcoin wallet, but experts say it was unlikely they hacked the wallet with brute force tactics.