Cryptoupdated 1h ago2 min read
U.S. Government Sends $770M Bitcoin to Coinbase Prime, Galaxy Research Tracks 9,261 BTC
9,261 BTC worth about $770 million transferred to Coinbase Prime over two days. Galaxy Research identified 2,456 BTC from previously unknown wallets among transfers.
$770M to Coinbase Prime
The U.S. government transferred roughly $770 million in Bitcoin to Coinbase Prime over October 6 and 7, with Galaxy Research tracking wallets linked to the government sending roughly 9,261 BTC to the custodian. Galaxy Research said the transfers included 834 BTC sent on October 6 and 8,428 BTC sent the following day, totaling approximately 9,261 BTC and $770 million in value.
Galaxy Research also said nearly half of the coins came from the Bitfinex hack, while another portion came from known seizures from Binance. The transfers landed at Coinbase Prime, a financial services custodian that offers brokerage, OTC trading, and custody services, and the Bitcoin Foundation article said that without evidence of a completed sale, concluding a BTC sell-off is premature.
New wallets, unclear purpose
Galaxy Research said the government-linked transfers also included 2,456 BTC from previously unrecognized holdings, adding a new wrinkle to Washington’s cryptocurrency inventory. The Bitcoin News article said Galaxy attributed the mystery coins to government seizures based on their destination, while the connection had not been independently established.
The Bitcoin News article described Coinbase Prime’s receiving address as accumulating 11,567 BTC since December 2025, including 6,406 BTC from recognized government wallets and approximately 5,160 BTC from unlabeled senders. The Bitcoin News article said the ultimate destination of the assets remains unclear, and it emphasized that a transfer to an exchange does not necessarily mean a sale is underway.
Strategic Bitcoin Reserve limits
The Bitcoin Foundation article said President Donald Trump issued an executive order in March 2025 establishing the United States Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, which designates certain Bitcoin for the reserve and prevents the government from selling it.
The Bitcoin Foundation article quoted the executive order’s instruction that the Secretary of the Treasury should retain the allocated government Bitcoin rather than using it for routine government spending, and it said the Reserve is capitalized with Bitcoin owned by the federal government that was forfeited as part of criminal or civil asset forfeiture proceedings.
The Bitcoin Foundation article warned that the fact that the U.S. government transferred this particular amount of Bitcoin cannot be taken as proof of a sale or a violation of the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve policy.
The Brave New Coin article said the blockchain movements do not establish that either cryptocurrency was sold, and it tied the uncertainty to Coinbase Prime’s role as institutional custody and trading services for digital assets handled through the U.S. Marshals Service.