US Moves $288 Million in Seized Bitcoin and Ether to Coinbase Prime
The United States government transferred $288 million in seized cryptocurrency to a major exchange, raising questions about potential liquidations despite recent executive orders protecting strategic reserves.
The United States government moved approximately $288 million in seized bitcoin and ether to Coinbase Prime on Monday. Blockchain data indicates that while the ether transfers occurred directly, the bitcoin was first routed through newly created intermediary wallets before reaching the exchange.
A wallet linked to the Ryan Farace case transferred 2,875 bitcoin, valued at roughly $178 million, to a fresh address that forwarded the entire amount to a Coinbase Prime deposit wallet minutes later. A second wallet associated with the defunct BTC-e exchange followed a similar pattern, moving 925.512 bitcoin worth $57 million to the platform.
Ether transactions bypassed this intermediate step. A wallet connected to Brian Krewson, an Oracle employee implicated in a $54 million laundering scheme, sent 30,007 ether worth $53.09 million straight to a Coinbase Prime deposit address. Separately, about 140 bitcoin moved between government Coinbase Prime addresses and a cold wallet, indicating routine internal shuffling.
These movements draw scrutiny because they appear to conflict with a March 2025 executive order by President Donald Trump. That directive designated seized bitcoin for a national Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and explicitly barred its sale.
While Coinbase Prime provides custody, financing, and staging services, routing assets to an exchange is widely interpreted by market participants as preparation for a sale or conversion into stablecoins. Large institutional holdings are typically kept in cold storage for security, making exchange deposits a notable signal of potential liquidation.
Despite the market attention, the transferred assets represent a minor fraction of the government’s total crypto holdings, which remain valued at approximately $20.65 billion. This broader portfolio includes 324,552 bitcoin, 28,394 ether, and 145.549 million USDT.
The transfers arrive as centralized exchange trading volumes show signs of recovery. In June, spot trading volumes climbed 15.3 percent to $1.11 trillion, marking the first increase in five months, while real-world asset perpetual volumes reached a record $311 billion.
