$297M in Confiscated Bitcoin and Ether Transferred by US Government to Coinbase Prime
Questions emerge regarding Trump's Bitcoin reserve commitment following the transfers, although moving funds to Coinbase Prime doesn't necessarily signal an upcoming sale.
On Monday, the US government transferred approximately $300 million in confiscated Bitcoin and Ether to Coinbase Prime, sparking fresh speculation about a potential sale of these digital assets.
According to data from Arkham, 3,940 Bitcoin (BTC) (valued at $243.95 million) along with 30,014 Ether (ETH) (valued at $53.09 million) were transferred to Coinbase Prime on Monday. These digital assets were connected to multiple prominent US government cryptocurrency seizures.
"These coin movements were comprised of coins seized from ryan farace ('xanaxman') and defunct crypto exchange btc-e," said Galaxy Research head Alex Thorn, referring to the Bitcoin movements. The Ether is linked to Brian Krewson, an Oracle employee implicated in a $54 million crypto storage and money laundering scheme.
The asset movements have attracted significant attention due to the fact that a sale would seem to contradict US President Donald Trump's March 2025 executive order, which stated that Bitcoin confiscated by the US government should become part of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and should not be sold.
That said, the deposits don't necessarily confirm a sale is imminent, given that Coinbase Prime offers institutions with custody, trading, financing and staking services, which means the transfers could merely represent asset consolidation.
While the US government has transferred cryptocurrency to Coinbase Prime in the past, Monday's transfer ranked among the largest from government-associated wallets this year.
In June, a US government-linked wallet moved 98,589 Chainlink (LINK) tokens to the platform, with the funds traced to assets seized from FTX and Alameda Research. In April, around 8.2 Bitcoin tied to the 2016 Bitfinex hack was sent to Coinbase Prime.
US government-linked wallets are estimated to still hold $20.6 billion in crypto, including around 325,000 BTC, 28,000 ETH, 146 million USDT and 750 Wrappd Bitcoin (WBTC).