On October 8, 2026, a wallet that Arkham Intelligence attributes to the United States government transferred 12,267 BTC, worth about $1.01 billion, to new unlabeled addresses. The coins come from bitcoin seized after the 2016 hack of the Bitfinex exchange, one of the largest thefts in Bitcoin's history. The day before, about 3,200 BTC ($264 million) and $119 million in USDT from FTX/Alameda and Bitfinex seizure wallets had moved to Coinbase Prime deposit addresses.
The Bitcoin blockchain is public: anyone can follow an address, and analytics firms link some addresses to their owners. A transfer, however, says nothing about intent. Coinbase Prime also provides custody, so a deposit can serve to consolidate funds or prepare a court-ordered restitution, not only a sale.
These movements draw attention because a March 2025 executive order directs forfeited bitcoin into a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and states that it should not be sold. According to CoinDesk, the government holds about $25.5 billion in crypto assets. For the market, the question is whether these holdings stay locked or could come back into circulation.
What to watch: the final destination of the 12,267 BTC, any official statement from the Department of Justice, and progress on restitution to the victims of the Bitfinex hack.
