About 12,267 BTC from US government wallets reached Coinbase deposit addresses
A wallet tied to the US government sent roughly $1.01 billion in bitcoin to Coinbase deposits on October 8. No sale has been confirmed so far.
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what happened
According to Crypto Briefing, a wallet linked to the US government moved 12,267.02 BTC, about $1.01 billion, on October 8. The coins eventually landed in deposit addresses that Arkham Intelligence attributes to Coinbase. Arkham traced the source wallet to funds seized after the 2016 Bitfinex hack, one of the largest crypto recoveries tied to a single theft.
The transfer did not go directly. The bitcoin first passed through several unlabeled addresses before reaching Coinbase Prime deposits, the exchange's platform mainly used for institutional custody. October 8 was the biggest piece of a wider wave: between October 6 and 8, government-linked wallets shifted 17,795 to 21,500 BTC, roughly $1.5 to $1.78 billion at current prices. Galaxy Research counted 9,261 BTC, around $770 million, sent to Coinbase Prime on October 6 and 7.
Galaxy Research and Arkham both read the activity as custody consolidation, and no sale has been confirmed. Even so, bitcoin dropped about $4,000 while the transfers unfolded. Estimates place US government holdings between 307,000 and 325,000 BTC, worth roughly $25 billion.
why it matters
The Strategic Bitcoin Reserve is explicitly barred from selling, so traders watch any movement out of official wallets closely. Coinbase handles a large share of seized coins for the Department of Justice and the US Marshals Service. If the government balance keeps falling below 307,000 BTC, the story shifts from custody logistics to a possible source of supply.
market impact
BTC: possible supply from government wallets weighs on sentiment; Coinbase (COIN) sits at the center of custody flows
tags
instruments
sources
- Government-linked $1B Bitcoin transfer reaches Coinbase addresses — Crypto Briefing, 22 October 2026 at 13:55 UTC
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