US Government Transfers $770M in Seized Bitcoin to Coinbase Prime

The US government moved 9,261 Bitcoin worth approximately $770 million to Coinbase Prime over two days, according to a Thursday X post by Galaxy Research. The transfers include 2,456 BTC from previously unknown holdings, suggesting new federal law enforcement seizures beyond already-documented cases. Half of the transferred Bitcoin was recovered from the Bitfinex hackers, while additional funds originated from known Binance-related seizures, highlighting the government's ongoing efforts to recover crypto assets tied to criminal exploits.

Coinbase Prime has served as the custody provider for the US Marshals Service since 2024, managing seized digital assets on behalf of the government. Previous transfers from government-labeled wallets have fueled speculation about imminent liquidations, but any sale would conflict with President Donald Trump's March 2025 executive order, which mandates that seized Bitcoin be retained and incorporated into the country's Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. This policy creates a notable tension between traditional asset liquidation practices and the administration's emerging approach to treating seized Bitcoin as a strategic national holding.

The latest movement follows a July transfer of $297 million in Bitcoin and Ether to Coinbase Prime from high-profile government crypto seizures. Cointelegraph has reached out to the US Marshals Service and the Department of Justice for comment on the recent transactions. As the US government continues expanding its onchain asset recovery operations, the role of regulated custody providers like Coinbase Prime is becoming increasingly central to how federal authorities manage and potentially deploy seized digital assets.