US Government Sends $1.78 Billion in Bitcoin to Coinbase Prime in Three Days as Price Slides Below $83,000
US government-linked wallets have sent a large chunk of Bitcoin toward Coinbase Prime over the span of three days, and the price has not taken it well.
21,500 COINS IN THREE DAYS
Galaxy Research tracked approximately 9,261 BTC, valued at $770 million, moving from government-linked wallets to Coinbase Prime on October 6 and 7, arriving in batches rather than one lump transfer. That was followed by a bigger move. On October 8, a US government-labeled wallet tied to the Bitfinex hack shifted roughly 12,267 BTC, worth about $1.01 billion, first to an unidentified intermediary address before a portion reached Coinbase Prime. The three-day tally brings the total movement to roughly $1.78 billion.
Bitcoin's price fell alongside the transfers. BTC dropped from about $86,500 to $82,500 as the government-linked transfers accelerated, with the live show tracking an intraday print near $80,765 at one point.
WHERE THE COINS CAME FROM
The source of the Bitcoin is not a mystery, mostly. Nearly half the coins originated from the 2016 Bitfinex hack recovery, with another portion tied to known Binance seizures, both categories the government has held for years as it works through forfeiture and restitution processes. The Bitfinex hack itself is well documented: 119,756 Bitcoin were stolen from the exchange in 2016, and the US government recovered and seized a portion of the stolen coins in February 2022, a holding that has sat in government-controlled wallets since.
A BATCH THAT DOESN'T FIT THE KNOWN LEDGER
The part that stood out to researchers was not the recognizable seizure coins. Galaxy Research identified an additional 2,456 BTC from wallets it had not previously linked to the US government, a holding that does not match any publicly known seizure case. That batch could represent a new, undisclosed law enforcement action, or simply a wallet the government has held quietly for longer than researchers were aware of. Either way, it adds coins to Washington's known Bitcoin inventory that nobody had accounted for before this week.
MOVEMENT IS NOT THE SAME AS A SALE
None of this confirms an actual sale. Coinbase Prime is not just an exchange order book, it is also a custody provider, and the US Marshals Service has used Coinbase Prime as its custody provider for seized digital assets since 2024. A transfer to that platform is consistent with routine custody housekeeping as much as it is with liquidation.
It also runs against the government's own stated policy. A March 2025 executive order signed by President Trump directed that seized Bitcoin should not be sold and should instead become part of the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. If that policy holds, the coins landing at Coinbase Prime are being repositioned for custody within the Reserve rather than queued for sale. Nobody outside the government has visibility into which explanation is correct, and Galaxy Research's data tracks wallet movement, not intent.
What is confirmed is the scale and the timing. Close to 21,500 Bitcoin moved toward a single exchange's institutional desk in three days, during a week when Bitcoin was already testing support in the low $80,000s. Whether that coincidence resolves into selling pressure or just a custody shuffle is the specific thing to watch in the coming days: any further movement out of that Coinbase Prime deposit address toward open market sell orders would be the confirming signal, and its absence would support the custody explanation instead.
This story comes from the Simply Bitcoin Live show. Watch the full episode.
