Bitcoin
The US government just sent $240 million worth of Bitcoin to Coinbase – another sell-off?
The US government appears to be selling more Bitcoin, with a known federal wallet address sending another 3,940 BTC ($240 million) to Coinbase on Wednesday.
O to move to Coinbase Prime – the exchange’s institutional platform – was immediately picked up by blockchain sleuths, highlighting a 1pm ET blockchain transfer for just $18 in fees.
Expert opinions were divided on where the government obtained the transferred Bitcoin.
According to Detective ZachXBT’s Telegram channel, the funds were part of the Bitcoin recovered from the “Silk Road hack.” After the infamous darknet market shutdown in 2013, the Department of Justice tracked down the hacker and seized 50,676 BTC, which the government has been selling in batches ever since.
In addition to Silk Road, many of the government’s coins were recovered from the Bitfinex hacker in 2016 Razzlekhan in 2022. But Blockchain data platform Arkham Intelligence says the coins stolen today did not come from any of those sources.
“This BTC was originally seized from drug trafficker Banmeet Singh and lost at trial in January 2024,” the company said tweeted On thursday.
Banmeet Singh was a drug kingpin who pleaded guilty earlier this year, operating an international narcotics ring from his home for several years. As part of the plea deal, Singh agreed to hand over more than $150 million worth of his cryptocurrency – now worth more thanks to Bitcoin’s price appreciation since then.
According to Arkham, the government still has a huge $13 billion in BTCbecoming one of the largest Bitcoin owners on Earth after Microstrategy.
Like the US government, Germany sold US$ 170 million from its hefty $2.8 billion Bitcoin stash last week. Arkham’s data shows he has moved tens of millions more to exchanges Kraken and Coinbase on Tuesday.
The government sales added to a wave of selling pressure hitting Bitcoin this month from Bitcoin miners and whales, while on-chain analysis suggests new demand for Bitcoin has been drying. Bitcoin is trading for $60,775 at the time of writing, down 13% for the month.
Edited by Ryan Ozawa.