Government-Linked Bitcoin Wallet Sends $1.01B Toward Coinbase Prime
Arkham-linked data showed about $1.01 billion in bitcoin from a wallet labeled as U.S. government-seized funds moving to Coinbase Prime deposit addresses. The October 8 transaction involved 12,267 BTC and later transfers split portions of the funds to exchange-labeled addresses. The trail does not prove a sale because Coinbase Prime provides custody as well as trading.
Arkham attributes the source wallet to bitcoin seized in the Bitfinex hacker case and held under a U.S. government entity. The Oct. 8 transfer involved 12,267.02329833 BTC and was time-stamped at 9:33:50 a.m. ET. Most of that amount first landed in an unlabeled address; a tiny 0.0012 BTC portion went directly to a Coinbase Prime deposit address.
Later movements split the funds: two 3,000 BTC batches went to the same Coinbase-tagged address used initially, while another 3,000 BTC and about 3,267 BTC went to a second address Arkham also labels as a Coinbase Prime deposit. Coinbase Prime had been chosen in July 2024 by the U.S. Marshals Service for custody and trading support for large digital assets.
The transfer may draw scrutiny from crypto traders, custody clients and compliance teams because large government-linked movements can influence market sentiment. It could also matter to taxpayers if the bitcoin is eventually sold or kept in custody, though the available trail cannot establish which. Market participants may watch for official disclosures clarifying whether the funds remain held or move into trading channels.