The U.S. government moved roughly $103.2 million worth of seized cryptocurrency on Tuesday, including Bitcoin linked to the HashFlare fraud and the 2016 Bitfinex hack, as well as BNB traced to Alameda Research.
The transfers were identified by blockchain analytics firm Arkham, which labels the relevant wallets as belonging to the U.S. government. Some of the Bitcoin was sent to Coinbase Prime, Coinbase’s institutional trading and custody service. Such a transfer can precede a sale, but it can also represent a move into custody. The government has not announced a sale or explained the purpose of the transactions.
Bitcoin moved through Coinbase Prime
The Bitcoin transfers involved 833.6 BTC, valued at about $71.6 million in the source material. The coins first moved through two addresses without public labels before arriving at addresses Arkham identifies as Coinbase Prime deposit wallets.
Arkham linked approximately 568.7 BTC to assets forfeited in the case involving Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin, the Estonian founders of crypto-mining service HashFlare. Prosecutors said the business collected more than $577 million from mining-contract sales between 2015 and 2019, despite lacking the computing capacity needed to support those contracts.
A court sentenced both men in August 2025 to the 16 months they had already spent in custody. The Justice Department said assets forfeited in the case would be available for victim repayments. In legal terms, forfeiture means a court has authorized the government to retain assets connected to criminal activity.
The remaining 264.9 BTC was associated with the 2016 theft from cryptocurrency exchange Bitfinex. The hack involved 119,754 BTC, stolen by Ilya Lichtenstein. In January 2025, the Justice Department argued that 94,643 BTC should be returned to Bitfinex. The government continued transferring coins from the related wallet during Tuesday’s activity until the wallet was emptied, according to the source material.
BNB traced to Alameda Research
The other major part of the movement consisted of 40,285 BNB, valued at $31.63 million. BNB is the token associated with the Binance exchange. The coins were sent to an unlabeled wallet and then transferred in full to another address.
Arkham traced the BNB to assets seized from Alameda Research, the trading firm connected to the collapsed FTX cryptocurrency exchange. As with the Bitcoin, the on-chain movement shows that the assets changed wallets, but it does not establish that they were sold.
Coinbase Prime serves institutional clients not only as a trading venue but also as a custodian, or a service that stores assets. The U.S. government has used Coinbase Prime for custody before. A similar transfer involving about $288 million in July was not necessarily a sale, underscoring why the latest transaction cannot be interpreted conclusively without an official explanation.
According to Decrypt, which reported the transfers, the government has not said whether it intends to sell any of the assets.
Why traders are watching the wallets
Government transfers attract attention because a large sale can increase the supply of Bitcoin available in the market over a short period. In December 2024, the government sent 19,800 BTC connected to the Silk Road seizure to Coinbase. The coins were then worth about $1.92 billion, and Bitcoin fell by more than 2% over the following 24 hours. Silk Road was an online black market that was shut down by the government.
The legal framework for the assets also matters. A March 2025 executive order established a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve consisting of forfeited Bitcoin and said that the reserve’s holdings should not be sold. Bitcoin is counted as part of that reserve only after it has been finally forfeited, meaning coins connected to unresolved criminal cases may remain outside it.
BNB is covered by a separate Digital Asset Stockpile rather than the Bitcoin reserve. The source material says the Treasury may release assets in that stockpile for purposes including compensating crime victims, supporting law-enforcement operations or meeting legal requirements. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has described forfeited Bitcoin as the foundation of the reserve.
Current crypto market picture
Moneyiar market data at 09:23-09:24 on October 8, 2026, showed Bitcoin at $82,973.60, down 0.94% over 24 hours and 0.84% over seven days. BNB was at $767.13, down 0.43% over 24 hours and up 0.03% over seven days.
Sei traded at $0.06918, rising 0.89% in 24 hours but falling 5.64% over seven days. Sentient stood at $0.02553, up 0.77% over 24 hours and 15.94% over seven days.
The reported transfers represent only a small portion of the U.S. government’s broader cryptocurrency holdings. Arkham’s September research estimated that the government held about 325,000 BTC, worth roughly $27 billion and equivalent to around 1.6% of Bitcoin’s supply. That placed the United States ahead of the United Kingdom, with 61,245 BTC, and El Salvador, with 7,200 BTC, in Arkham’s ranking of government holders.
