U.S. Government Moves $770M in Seized Bitcoin to Coinbase Prime, Including $200M From Unknown Holdings
Published October 8, 2026, 15:50 UTC. Reporting via Galaxy Research, Cointelegraph, crypto.news, Bitcoin Foundation and Crowdfund Insider.
The U.S. government moved 9,261 Bitcoin worth roughly $770 million to Coinbase Prime across October 6 and 7, in what on-chain analysts describe as one of the largest multi-day outflows from identifiable government wallets this year. The transfers include 2,456 BTC, worth about $204 million, that came from wallets never before attributed to the government, a find Galaxy Research said "may represent new law enforcement seizures."
The 8,428 BTC day
The bulk of the movement happened on October 7, when government-linked addresses sent about 8,428 BTC to Coinbase Prime, following 834 BTC the day before, according to Galaxy Research's October 7 on-chain analysis shared on X. The research firm said nearly half of the total came from funds recovered from the 2016 Bitfinex hack, in which attackers drained about 120,000 BTC from the exchange, and another portion traced to previously known Binance-related seizures.
The October 6 batch marked the first Bitcoin transfer from government-labeled wallets since August 26, according to on-chain tracking cited by Crowdfund Insider. Arkham Intelligence attribution tied that 834 BTC, worth about $71.6 million, to two separate forfeiture matters: about 568.7 BTC from the Potapenko-Turogin prosecution, the Hashflare cloud-mining fraud case, and about 264.9 BTC from Bitfinex hack recoveries. The same window of activity included about 40,285 BNB, worth roughly $31.6 million, linked to Alameda Research bankruptcy assets.
The 2,456 BTC that came from nowhere
The 2,456 BTC, roughly 26 percent of the total, originated from holdings that had not appeared in Galaxy's earlier government wallet labels. The coins flowed into the same Coinbase Prime deposit address used for government assets, which is why the research firm said they may represent new law enforcement seizures. No statement from the Department of Justice or the U.S. Marshals Service reviewed for this report has confirmed a new seizure involving those coins, crypto.news reported.
Galaxy estimates that U.S. government-linked wallets still hold roughly 319,086 Bitcoin across seizure-related addresses on chain, worth about $27 billion at current prices, making the United States the largest known sovereign holder of Bitcoin. The firm said the newly found coins arrived at the government's Coinbase Prime seizure address rather than any exchange wallet it tracks as private.
Why Coinbase Prime does not mean a sale
A transfer to Coinbase Prime is not evidence of a sale. The platform provides the U.S. Marshals Service with custody and trading services for seized assets under a partnership in place since 2024, and the government has repeatedly moved coins there for custody reasons. In July, government-linked addresses sent about $297 million in Bitcoin and Ether to Coinbase Prime, with funds originating from high-profile seizures, and no sale was confirmed then either.
Any sale of reserve Bitcoin would also conflict with President Donald Trump's March 2025 executive order, which specified that seized Bitcoin should not be sold and should become part of the country's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, with exceptions for specific circumstances such as victim compensation. Previous movements from the government-labeled wallet have repeatedly sparked speculation about potential liquidations, and so far each round has involved custody consolidation rather than open-market selling.
This article is news reporting and is not investment advice.
Sources
- Galaxy Research, on-chain analysis of U.S. government Bitcoin transfers (published on X, Oct. 7, 2026), primary source
- Cointelegraph, US Government Moves $770M of Seized Bitcoin to Coinbase Prime (Oct. 8, 2026)
- crypto.news, U.S. government sends $770M BTC to Coinbase, why now? (Oct. 8, 2026)
- Crowdfund Insider, US Government Crypto Wallets Move 833.6 Bitcoin To Coinbase Prime, First BTC Transfer Since August (Oct. 7, 2026)
- Bitcoin Foundation, BTC Sell-Off? US Government Moves $770M Bitcoin to Coinbase (Oct. 8, 2026)
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