U.S. government transfers 54.89 billion SHIB tied to FTX seizure

SHIB moved in two transactions

Arkham Intelligence said the government split the Shiba Inu transfer into two transactions. The first and much larger movement sent 54.89 billion SHIB, valued at roughly $235,500, to an unlabeled wallet. A second transfer sent another 2.32 million SHIB to the same address.

In total, 54,897,092,652 SHIB were moved. On-chain records cited by the source indicate the original U.S. government wallet no longer holds any SHIB after those transfers. The destination wallet now holds the full 54.89 billion SHIB balance, and SHIB is reported to be the only asset in that address.

Other assets sent to Coinbase

The SHIB transfers were accompanied by larger movements in other cryptocurrencies. Arkham also flagged a transfer of $19.62 million in USDT to Coinbase, along with about $9.3 million worth of ETH sent to the same exchange.

The report did not state the purpose of the latest wallet activity with certainty, but it said the transactions have fueled speculation that the assets are being repositioned as part of the continuing FTX bankruptcy recovery process.

Link to seized FTX and Alameda assets

According to the source, the Shiba Inu tokens came from assets seized by U.S. authorities after FTX collapsed in November 2022. Arkham indicated the tokens will presumably support repayments to creditors in the bankruptcy case.

Even so, creditors are not expected to receive SHIB or other digital assets directly. The source said the FTX bankruptcy estate has consistently sold recovered crypto and distributed cash instead. Under that process, creditor payouts are based on cryptocurrency prices from November 2022, when FTX filed for bankruptcy, rather than current market prices.

Repayments continue to expand

The government wallet activity comes as the FTX estate continues to distribute funds. On March 31, 2026, the estate completed its fourth round of distributions, paying $2.2 billion to eligible creditors. That brought total distributions to around $9.5 billion, according to the estate as cited in the source article.

The same report said most U.S. customers and general unsecured creditors have now recovered 100% of their approved claims. Claimants in the convenience class have reportedly received payouts of as much as 120%.

That March distribution followed three earlier repayment rounds completed in February, May, and September 2025. The source also said FTX began processing payments to preferred equity shareholders in late May 2026, another step in the long-running unwinding of the exchange’s collapse.

The latest transfer does not by itself confirm how or when the moved SHIB will be used. But the timing places it within a wider recovery effort that has already returned billions of dollars to creditors while converting seized and recovered crypto holdings into cash for distribution.