TLDR
- U.S. government-linked wallets moved 12,267 BTC, worth about $1.01 billion, on Thursday.
- The coins came from a wallet tied to the 2016 Bitfinex hack and went to new, unlabeled addresses.
- No exchange deposit was recorded in this move, which suggests wallet reshuffling rather than a sale.
- The transfer follows an earlier move of about 3,200 BTC and $119 million in USDT to Coinbase Prime.
- The U.S. government still holds roughly $25.5 billion in crypto, according to Arkham data.
Wallets linked to the U.S. government moved 12,267 bitcoin on Thursday. The coins were worth about $1.01 billion at the time of the transfer.
Blockchain intelligence firm Arkham tracked the movement. The data shows the bitcoin left a wallet tied to the 2016 Bitfinex hack.
🚨ALERT: The U.S. government just MOVED over $1 BILLION in Bitcoin linked to the Bitfinex hack, per LookOnChain.
A government-linked wallet transferred 12,267 BTC on October 8, following roughly $670 MILLION in crypto movements over the previous 24 hours.
Some assets were sent… pic.twitter.com/tkVuV4Igie
— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) October 8, 2026
The funds went to a new, unlabeled address. A second transaction sent coins to a different address as well.
No exchange deposit was recorded in this transfer. This pattern looks more like wallet reshuffling than a sale.
Earlier Transfer Involved Coinbase Prime
The move came about a day after a separate transfer. That one sent roughly 3,200 bitcoin, worth about $264 million, to Coinbase Prime.
Along with the bitcoin, $119 million in USDT was also deposited. These funds came from wallets tied to both the FTX/Alameda case and the Bitfinex seizure.
Coinbase Prime deposits do not always mean a sale is coming. The platform offers custody services as well as trading.
CoinDesk reported on Wednesday that over $100 million in bitcoin and BNB had moved in a similar way. That followed a pattern seen earlier this year.
In July, about $288 million worth of seized bitcoin and ether moved through fresh wallets before reaching Coinbase Prime. The government has used this method before.
Bitfinex Hack Background
The Bitfinex hack took place in 2016. Hackers stole 119,756 bitcoin from the exchange at that time.
Blockchain analysts at Arkham identified the wallet behind Thursday’s transfer as tied to that recovery effort. The identity of whoever controls the receiving address was not known at the time of publication.
Cointelegraph reached out to the U.S. Marshals Service and the Department of Justice for comment on the transfers. Neither agency replied right away.
A March 2025 executive order set up a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve for the government. The order stated that forfeited bitcoin should not be sold.
President Trump signed that order establishing the reserve. Lawmakers are still working to turn the order into law.
Estimates suggest the U.S. government held about 328,372 bitcoin as of 2026. Most of this came from seized assets tied to criminal cases.
Arkham’s tracking shows the government holds about $25.5 billion in crypto overall. This figure includes bitcoin along with other digital assets.
The latest 12,267 bitcoin transfer stands as one of the larger single movements tracked recently. Analysts continue to watch the wallets for any sign of a sale or exchange deposit.
As of now, the coins sit in unlabeled wallets. No further movement had been reported at the time of publication.
