The U.S. government moved about $565.87 million in seized cryptocurrency to Coinbase Prime within a few hours, according to blockchain analytics platform Onchain Lens. The transfers covered Bitcoin tied to the 2016 Bitfinex hack and Tether linked to the collapsed FTX and Alameda Research. The government has not disclosed the purpose of the transactions.
Blockchain analytics platform Onchain Lens said the U.S. government moved around $565.87 million in seized crypto to Coinbase Prime over a few hours.
Most recently, the government moved 94.15 million Tether (USDT), which Onchain Lens described as coming from seized funds related to bankrupt crypto exchange FTX and its trading arm Alameda Research. This followed a series of other transactions that added up to about $471.7 million.
Bitcoin from the Bitfinex hack leads the batch
The first batch contained 3,974 Bitcoin (BTC), about $329.95 million worth, which the blockchain analytics platform described as related to the Bitfinex hack. Another transaction held 657.92 BTC worth $54.55 million, 750.19 Wrapped Bitcoin (WBTC) worth $62.34 million, and 24.89 million USDT worth $24.88 million.
According to Onchain Lens, all of these coins also come from seized FTX/Alameda-related assets. Some of the crypto passed through newly minted addresses before landing on Coinbase Prime.
What the seized assets represent
The biggest part of the transfers traces back to the Bitfinex hack of 2016, when about 119,754 BTC were stolen from the exchange. U.S. authorities later recovered over 94,000 BTC after gaining access to the private keys of hacker Ilya Lichtenstein, a seizure worth around $3.6 billion in 2022. Lichtenstein later pleaded guilty to a money laundering conspiracy charge.
Moving assets to Coinbase Prime doesn't necessarily mean a sale is imminent. In 2024, the U.S. Marshals Service picked Coinbase Prime to provide custody and advanced trading for its big-cap digital assets portfolio. Transfers there may simply reflect management and custody rather than a planned sale. The U.S. government didn't make public the intended purpose of these particular transactions.
Source: U.Today
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