The United States government moved approximately 9,261 Bitcoin, valued at about $770 million, to Coinbase Prime on October 6 and 7, according to data published by Galaxy Research. The transfers have prompted speculation among market participants that a large-scale sell-off may be approaching.
Galaxy Research disclosed the activity in a Thursday post on X. Tuesday’s deposit was the smaller of the two, at 834 BTC, while Wednesday’s reached 8,428 BTC. With internal wallet-to-wallet moves excluded, the second day stands among the largest single-day net outflows from identifiable US government addresses, the firm noted.
The origin of the coins explains much of the story. Galaxy Research wrote: “Almost half was recovered from the Bitfinex hackers, while another portion came from known seizures from Binance.” The analysts then added: “But 2,456 BTC came from previously unknown holdings, which we now assume were USG seizures because they deposited into the USG Coinbase Prime deposit address.”
Coinbase Prime has served as the US Marshals Service’s custody provider for seized assets since 2024, so deposits there fit an established pattern. The onchain flows suggest authorities are still recovering crypto linked to earlier exploits.
Last year, Trump signed Executive Order 14233 on March 6, changing how Washington handles confiscated crypto. The order set up the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve for Bitcoin and the United States Digital Asset Stockpile for every other asset. Seized Bitcoin is meant to be held in the reserve rather than sold, which means an open-market dump would contradict the administration’s own directive.
