The US government moved 9,261 BTC (about $770 million) to Coinbase Prime over two days. Some of the coins come from old hacks, and 2,456 BTC came from wallets nobody had seen before.
What exactly did Washington move?
According to Galaxy Research, roughly half of the transferred coins were recovered from the Bitfinex hackers. Another slice ties to known seizures in Binance cases. The most interesting part is 2,456 BTC from previously unknown wallets, which may point to new law enforcement seizures.
Separately, Arkham tracked 833.6 BTC and 40,285 BNB moving on Tuesday, $103 million in total. Part of the bitcoin ties to the HashFlare case, and 264.9 BTC came from the wallet holding funds from the 2016 Bitfinex hack (119,754 BTC were stolen then).
Why is a transfer not yet a sale?
The market usually reads such moves as prep for a dump, since coins land on exchanges right before they are sold. Here it is more complicated. Coinbase Prime has served as custodian (a vault service) for the US Marshals Service since 2024, so a deposit can simply mean storage.
The reasons could be different:
- Storing seized assets with a custodian, like the similar $288 million move in July.
- Repaying victims, for example in the HashFlare case, where the court allowed forfeited funds to go to compensation.
- A sale, if the law allows it.
There is no official explanation. Cointelegraph contacted the Marshals Service and the Justice Department but has not received an answer.
What do the rules say about selling?
In March 2025 an executive order from Donald Trump created the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, whose coins "shall not be sold". Only finally forfeited Bitcoin enters the reserve, so assets tied to open criminal cases sit outside it. BNB falls under a separate Digital Asset Stockpile, from which Treasury can release funds only to repay victims, for law enforcement operations or when the law requires.
For the US that is about 1.6% of the entire Bitcoin supply, or roughly $27 billion.
How did the market react before?
December 2024 gave a live example. The government then sent 19,800 BTC from the Silk Road case (about $1.92 billion) to Coinbase, and within a day the price of Bitcoin slid more than 2%. That is why traders watch government wallets so closely.
Bitcoin now trades near $82,000 and has already touched its October low. At this level the market would notice fresh sellers right away.
What should Bitcoin holders expect?
So far there is no proof of a sale. If you follow the price, watch not the transfer itself but whether the coins leave the Coinbase Prime address for exchange order books.
A real signal will come only from an official statement or a visible sale in the market. Until then this is information about movement, not a forecast.
Comments
Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *