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US government sends $1 billion of seized Bitfinex bitcoin to unlabeled wallets

Wallets tied to the US government moved 12,267 seized Bitfinex bitcoin, worth about $1 billion, to new unlabeled addresses. No exchange deposit was recorded, CoinDesk reported. Whether Washington is selling turns on the smaller sums it sent to Coinbase Prime.

The Investor · Invest desk

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What happened

  • Arkham linked the sending wallet to funds recovered from the 2016 Bitfinex hack, in which 119,756 BTC were stolen, and the owner of the receiving address is unknown.
  • A day earlier, about 3,200 BTC and $119 million in USDT reached Coinbase Prime deposit addresses from FTX/Alameda and Bitfinex seizure wallets, according to Arkham's labels.
  • Coinbase Prime also provides custody, so government deposits there do not by themselves show that anything was sold.

Why it matters

  • What doesn't add up contradiction CoinDesk's $383 million and Cointelegraph's $770 million for the Coinbase Prime leg differ by about $387 million, so the one flow that could be a sale cannot yet be sized.
  • Who's exposed exposure The no-sale rule covering about $25.5 billion of government crypto rests on an order that lawmakers have not yet codified. If the policy changes, the coins stay a possible source of supply.
  • What it limits constraint Valued at the transfer's price, the 328,372 BTC estimate comes to about $27.0 billion, more than Arkham's tally of all government crypto. With two counts that do not agree, traders cannot pin down the size of the overhang.

A transfer of seized coins to unlabeled addresses may be nothing more than custody housekeeping. CoinDesk took that view after finding no exchange deposit on the receiving side [12]. It may also be staging. In July about $288 million in seized bitcoin and ether reached Coinbase Prime through fresh intermediary wallets [6], so a new address can also be the first stop on a route that ends at a broker. And even an arrival at Coinbase Prime would prove little, because the platform also holds coins in custody [4].

I think the housekeeping reading fits this batch. The March 2025 order sends forfeited bitcoin to a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and says it should not be sold [3], and a move with no exchange leg is consistent with that. The July route is the counter-case. It would be confirmed if coins from either of the two receiving addresses [1] landed at an exchange deposit address. The US Marshals and the Justice Department did not immediately respond when Cointelegraph asked about the Coinbase Prime transfers [10].

Any selling would sit in the Coinbase Prime leg, or rather in the bitcoin part of it. CoinDesk's figures for that leg add up to $383 million, of which $119 million was USDT [16]. That leaves about $264 million in bitcoin [11]. Cointelegraph put the earlier transfers at $770 million in BTC [13], nearly three times as much [19]. CoinDesk separately reported more than $100 million in BTC and BNB moving in a similar way [9].

At the transfer's own valuation, bitcoin is priced at about $82,300 a coin: $1.01 billion divided by 12,267 BTC [7]. That is close to the roughly $82,500 implied by the 3,200 BTC sent to Coinbase Prime [18]. The batch is about a tenth of the 119,756 BTC stolen from Bitfinex in 2016 [8]. Estimates cited by Cointelegraph put 328,372 BTC in government hands as of 2026 [15], and this move is about 3.7% of that stock [20].

What to watch

  • Whether coins from the two new receiving addresses reach an exchange deposit address or Coinbase Prime, the path seized coins took in July.
  • Any statement from the US Marshals or the Justice Department on the Coinbase Prime transfers, which neither commented on to Cointelegraph.
  • Progress in Congress on writing the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve order into law.

Information, not investment advice. This story is general information about companies and markets, drawn from cited reporting. It is not a recommendation to buy, sell or hold any security; check the cited sources before acting.

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What the record supports and how the coverage leans. The claims behind it follow.

Reality

Evidence60
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Confidence55

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6 publishers
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Claim ledger

Ranked by verification strength, evidence, and original report placement.

  1. [1]

    U.S. government-linked wallets moved 12,267 BTC ($1.01 billion) from a wallet holding funds seized in the 2016 Bitfinex hack to a new, unlabeled address, with a second transaction going to a different address.

    Reported Supported Source: CoinDesk, citing Arkham dataView cited source
  2. [2]

    Arkham Research linked the sending wallet to the recovery of funds from the 2016 Bitfinex hack, in which hackers stole 119,756 BTC; the identity of the owner of the recipient address was unknown.

    Reported Supported Source: Cointelegraph, citing Arkham ResearchView cited source
  3. [3]

    A March 2025 executive order directed forfeited bitcoin into a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and said it should not be sold.

    Reported Supported Source: CoinDeskView cited source
  4. [4]

    Deposits to Coinbase Prime don't necessarily indicate a sale because the platform also provides custody.

    Reported Supported Source: CoinDeskView cited source
  5. [5]

    Lawmakers are still attempting to codify the March 2025 strategic Bitcoin reserve executive order into law.

    Reported Supported Source: CointelegraphView cited source
  6. [6]

    In July, about $288 million in seized bitcoin and ether was routed to Coinbase Prime via fresh intermediary wallets.

    Reported Supported Source: CoinDeskView cited source
  7. [7]

    The 12,267 BTC transfer implies a price of about $82,300 per bitcoin.

    Derived Supported
  8. [8]

    The 12,267 BTC moved is about 10.2% of the 119,756 BTC stolen in the 2016 Bitfinex hack.

    Derived Supported
  9. [9]

    CoinDesk reported that more than $100 million in BTC and BNB moved in a similar fashion.

    Reported Supported Source: CoinDeskView cited source
  10. [10]

    Cointelegraph reached out to the US Marshals and the Department of Justice for comment on the Coinbase Prime transfers but did not receive an immediate response.

    Reported Supported Source: CointelegraphView cited source
  11. [11]

    About 24 hours earlier, roughly 3,200 BTC (about $264 million) and $119 million in USDT landed at Coinbase Prime deposit addresses, from wallets tied to the FTX/Alameda and Bitfinex seizures according to Arkham's identification.

    Reported Contested Source: CoinDesk, citing ArkhamView cited source
  12. [12]

    No exchange deposit was recorded, a pattern CoinDesk described as more consistent with wallet reshuffling than a sale.

    Reported Contested Source: CoinDeskView cited source
  13. [13]

    The $1 billion move came hours after transfers from the government totaling $770 million in BTC to a Coinbase Prime wallet.

    Reported Contested Source: CointelegraphView cited source
  14. [14]

    The U.S. government still holds about $25.5 billion worth of crypto, Arkham shows.

    Reported Contested Source: CoinDesk, citing ArkhamView cited source
  15. [15]

    Estimates suggest the US government held 328,372 BTC as of 2026, from assets seized in criminal cases and investigations.

    Reported Contested Source: Cointelegraph, citing unnamed estimatesView cited source
  16. [16]

    CoinDesk's Coinbase Prime figures total about $383 million, of which $119 million was USDT.

    Derived Contested
  17. [17]

    Cointelegraph's $770 million for the Coinbase Prime transfers is about $387 million more than CoinDesk's $383 million, roughly double.

    Derived Contested
  18. [18]

    The 3,200 BTC sent to Coinbase Prime at about $264 million implies roughly $82,500 per bitcoin.

    Derived Contested
  19. [19]

    Cointelegraph's $770 million in BTC is nearly three times the roughly $264 million of bitcoin in CoinDesk's Coinbase Prime figures.

    Derived Contested
  20. [20]

    The 12,267 BTC moved is about 3.7% of the estimated 328,372 BTC the government held as of 2026.

    Derived Contested
  21. [21]

    At the transfer's implied price, the 328,372 BTC estimate is worth about $27.0 billion, more than the $25.5 billion Arkham shows for all government crypto.

    Derived Contested

Sources

6 independent publishers whose own reporting we read for this story.

  1. coindesk.com

    1 article · October 8, 2026

    U.S. government moves $1 billion in bitcoin from Bitfinex hack wallet, no sale indicated
  2. cointelegraph.com

    1 article · October 8, 2026

    US government moves $1B in seized Bitcoin after $770M transfers
  3. cryptobriefing.com

    2 articles · October 9, 2026

    US government moves $1.01 billion in Bitcoin from Bitfinex hack wallet
  4. cryptoslate.com

    1 article · October 8, 2026

    US government moves another $1 billion in Bitcoin as BTC slides $4,000
  5. decrypt.co

    1 article · October 8, 2026

    US Government Moves $1 Billion in Bitcoin Seized From Bitfinex Hacker
  6. news.bitcoin.com

    1 article · October 8, 2026

    US Government Shifts $1 Billion in Bitcoin, $94 Million in Tether

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