The US government moved more than $131 million worth of seized Bitcoin (BTC) to Coinbase, according to multiple blockchain-tracking firms.
The crypto tracker Lookonchain notes the US government recently transferred a total of 30,174.703 BTC (worth $1.98 billion), of which 2,000 BTC (worth $131.65 million) went to the Coinbase Prime wallet.
The blockchain intelligence firm Arkham also confirms the Coinbase Prime transfer.
Julio Moreno, the head of research at the blockchain analytics firm CryptoQuant, says the 2,000 Bitcoin sent to Coinbase were sold. He also notes the BTC came from the trove that was seized from James Zhong, who pleaded guilty to wire fraud after being accused of manipulating transactions on the darknet marketplace Silk Road.
The US government, which acquires Bitcoin largely through seizures related to criminal proceedings, still holds roughly 213,246 BTC worth $14.13 billion, according to Arkham. It also holds around $4.3 million worth of Ethereum (ETH).
The government’s crypto sales haven’t always been well-timed: In March of 2023, it sold 9,861 BTC worth about $216 million at the time. Thanks to surging digital asset prices, the same amount of Bitcoin today is worth more than $654.4 million.
Bitcoin is trading at $66,303 at time of writing. The top-ranked crypto asset by market cap is up 2% in the past 24 hours but down more than 4% in the past week.
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