The US authorities moved almost $300 million in seized Bitcoin and Ether to Coinbase Prime on Monday, renewing hypothesis that the belongings might be bought.
Information from Arkham shows 3,940 Bitcoin (BTC) (price $243.95 million) and 30,014 Ether (ETH) (price $53.09 million) had been despatched to Coinbase Prime on Monday. The funds had been linked to a number of high-profile US authorities crypto seizures.
“These coin actions had been comprised of cash seized from ryan farace (“xanaxman”) and defunct crypto change btc-e,” stated Galaxy Analysis head Alex Thorn, referring to the Bitcoin actions. The Ether is linked to Brian Krewson, an Oracle worker implicated in a $54 million crypto storage and cash laundering scheme.
The transfers have drawn consideration as a result of a sale would seem to battle with US President Donald Trump’s March 2025 govt order, which stated Bitcoin seized by the US authorities ought to type a part of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and shouldn’t be bought.
Nonetheless, the deposits don’t verify a sale, as Coinbase Prime supplies establishments with custody, buying and selling, financing and staking providers, which means the transfers could merely mirror asset consolidation.
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Though the US authorities has beforehand transferred cryptocurrency to Coinbase Prime, Monday’s switch was one of many largest from government-linked wallets this yr.
In June, a US government-linked pockets move 98,589 Chainlink (LINK) tokens to the platform, with the funds traced to belongings seized from FTX and Alameda Analysis. In April, round 8.2 Bitcoin tied to the 2016 Bitfinex hack was despatched to Coinbase Prime.
US government-linked wallets are estimated to nonetheless maintain $20.6 billion in crypto, together with round 325,000 BTC, 28,000 ETH, 146 million USDT and 750 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC).
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