U.S. government-linked wallets moved 833.6 BTC worth just over $71 million on Tuesday, the first bitcoin transfer from those addresses since Aug. 26. The activity involved assets tied to two separate enforcement cases: the 2016 Bitfinex hack and the Potapenko-Turogin fraud case.
The same round of transactions also included 40,285.07 BNB, valued at about $31.63 million, from forfeited FTX wallets. According to the source report, some of the transfers were sent to Coinbase Prime, which provides custody and trading services to the U.S. Marshals Service.
First bitcoin movement since late August
The transfers took place at roughly 11 a.m. Eastern time on Tuesday. Wallets linked to the U.S. government, and described in the source as managed by the U.S. Marshals, shifted a combined 833.6 BTC, ending a six-week stretch with no bitcoin movement from those addresses.
The report said the transfers included a small test transaction of 0.00115539 BTC to Coinbase Prime, followed by a movement of 264.86266831 BTC to a new wallet. Those coins were associated with assets seized in connection with the 2016 Bitfinex hack.
Bitfinex and Potapenko-Turogin assets were involved
The Bitfinex-linked portion traces back to the 2016 theft of 120,000 BTC from the exchange. Authorities later confiscated about 94,636 BTC from the thieves, according to the source article.
A separate 568 BTC transfer later in the day involved coins tied to the Potapenko-Turogin fraud case. That case centered on Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turõgin, who were accused of running a fake cloud mining operation by selling hashrate contracts tied to data centers that did not contain actual mining machines.
BNB from forfeited FTX wallets also moved
Alongside the bitcoin activity, the government also moved BNB held in forfeited FTX wallets. The transactions began with a 0.127 BNB test transfer and were followed by a much larger movement of 40,285.07 BNB.
The source valued that BNB at approximately $31.63 million at the time of the transfers. It described Tuesday’s activity as a broader effort to move or consolidate forfeited digital assets rather than a bitcoin-only event.
Coinbase Prime’s role and what remains
Coinbase Prime appeared in the transaction flow as the destination for test transfers. The source noted that Coinbase supplies custody and advanced trading services to the U.S. Marshals Service.
That arrangement reflects a shift from the older practice of auctioning seized bitcoin holdings. Instead, law enforcement now works directly with Coinbase for handling what the report called Class 1 digital assets.
After Tuesday’s movements, the U.S. government still held 323,693.83 BTC, valued at roughly $27.72 billion. The report did not say whether the latest transfers were preparation for a sale, a custody change, or another administrative step, leaving the next confirmed development to future onchain activity or official disclosure.
Source: news.bitcoin.com