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The US Government Just Sent $240 Million in Bitcoin to Coinbase: Another Selloff?
The US government appears to be selling more Bitcoin, with a well-known federal wallet address sending another 3,940 BTC ($240 million) to Coinbase on Wednesday.
THE move at Coinbase Prime, the exchange’s institutional platform, was immediately spotted by blockchain investigators, highlighting a blockchain transfer at 1pm ET for just $18 in fees.
Expert opinions differ regarding where the government obtained the transferred Bitcoins.
According to on-chain investigator 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 since sold off in batches.
Aside from Silk Road, many of the government’s coins were recovered by the 2016 Bitfinex hacker Razzlekhan in 2022. But Blockchain data platform Arkham Intelligence says the coins stolen today do not come from any of these sources.
“This BTC was originally seized from narcotics trafficker Banmeet Singh and confiscated during trial in January 2024,” the company says. tweeted on Thursday.
Banmeet Singh was a drug kingpin who found guilty earlier this year, he ran 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, which is now worth more thanks to the appreciation of Bitcoin’s price since then.
According to Arkham, the government still has a large sum $13 billion in BTCmaking him thereafter one of the largest holders of Bitcoin on Earth MicroStrategy.
Just like the US government, Germany sold 170 million dollars from its massive $2.8 billion Bitcoin stash last week. Arkham data shows it has moved tens of millions more on the Kraken and Coinbase exchanges 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 dry. As of this writing, Bitcoin is trading at $60,775, down 13% on the month.
By Ryan Ozawa.