US government wallets moved 9,261 Bitcoin, worth roughly $770 million, into Coinbase Prime across October 6 and 7, according to on-chain data compiled by Galaxy Research and reported October 8. The transfers arrived in two batches: 834 BTC on October 6, then a far larger 8,428 BTC on October 7. That October 7 batch alone was 91% of the two-day total — the federal government's largest single-day Bitcoin outflow since December 2, 2024, and the ninth largest on any single day since 2013.
Where the coins came from is the more interesting part. Galaxy's tracing shows roughly half of the total — about 4,630 BTC, or some $385 million at current prices — part of the stash reclaimed from the 2016 Bitfinex breach, in which 119,754 BTC were taken and laundered by Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan before investigators took control of more than 94,000 of them during 2022. A second portion traces back to known Binance-related seizures.
Then there is the part that raised eyebrows: 2,456 BTC, worth around $204 million, arrived from wallets Galaxy had never previously associated with the government. Galaxy described the unlabeled coins as potentially stemming from fresh enforcement actions — an analyst assessment, not an official confirmation.
This was not the first time federal wallets have used Coinbase Prime this year. The US Marshals Service selected the exchange's institutional platform in 2024 as its custody provider for seized digital assets after a competitive review, and in July the government shifted roughly $297 million of confiscated crypto — 3,940 BTC plus 30,000 ETH — into the same custody arrangement. No sale followed that transfer. This week's move is roughly 2.6 times larger.
Why it matters
A Coinbase Prime deposit is easy to misread. The platform offers trading as well as custody, so coins landing there can look like a government sale in waiting. The mechanics and the law say otherwise: the Marshals service has used Coinbase Prime for custody for two years, assets can sit in its custody indefinitely, and on-chain data cannot show whether any internal trade ever happens. For context, see how institutional crypto custody keeps expanding on exchanges in our Kraken liquidity coverage.
The law backs that reading. Trump's March 6, 2025 order says Bitcoin deposited into the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve "shall not be sold," but it permits releases required by a court or earmarked for victims — which fits the Bitfinex batch, since a court ordered 94,643 BTC returned to Bitfinex in restitution proceedings.
Short punchy check for traders: this move does not signal selling pressure. It signals bookkeeping. No official disposal notice has been published, and crypto.news' reporting stresses that none of the on-chain evidence ties Washington's coins to Bitcoin's 1.2% dip — the coin traded around $82,537 with a $34.1 billion 24-hour volume while this played out.
What to watch
- DOJ or US Marshals comment: Cointelegraph has requested comment. Any confirmation about the 2,456 unlabeled BTC would tell the market whether federal seizures are growing faster than trackers can map.
- The deposit address flow: Galaxy's address has taken in 11,567 BTC since December 2025; 6,406 BTC came from known government wallets and 5,160 BTC from unlabeled ones. If unlabeled inflow keeps growing, the government's tracked stash keeps expanding.
- Bitfinex restitution timeline: the 94,643 BTC court-ordered return is the natural destination for the hack-linked portion; watch for movement on the main address.
- Bitcoin's $82,300 zone: that level marked the 24-hour low during the reporting; a break below it would put the week's government overhang back in the conversation.
| Origin | BTC | Share of 9,261 BTC |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 Bitfinex hack recoveries | ~4,630 | ~50% |
| Known Binance seizures | not disclosed | portion |
| Previously unknown wallets | 2,456 | 26.5% |
MarketRadar take
Neutral for Bitcoin. The numbers are big but the structure is custodial: the Marshals service has used Coinbase Prime as its vault since 2024, the reserve order blocks reserve-Bitcoin sales, and the Bitfinex coins have a legal path through restitution rather than liquidation. Our computed breakdown puts $770 million at an implied $83,141 per BTC — right on top of the $82,312–$83,713 range Bitcoin traded in — so the market was effectively valuing these coins in line with spot, not at a fire-sale discount.
What actually bears watching is the unlabeled-wallet growth. The government's Coinbase Prime address has absorbed 11,567 BTC since December 2025, and 5,160 of that arrived without a government label. If the 2,456 BTC batch is confirmed as new seizures, Washington's crypto inventory is larger and still growing — which matters less as a supply overhang and more as proof that enforcement keeps feeding the US stockpile. The China P2P stablecoin story showed the same theme from the other side: state-adjacent crypto flows keep expanding while prices wobble.
