
Addresses attributed to US authorities moved around $103 million in Bitcoin and BNB, linked to court cases.
AI-generated summary
Coinbase was selected in July 2024 by the U.S. Marshals for custody of certain digital assets.
Federal portfolios are moving again. Addresses attributed to American authorities transferred approximately $103 million in Bitcoin and BNB, according to records reported by the specialized press. These operations, observed on Tuesday October 6, concern assets linked to several legal cases.
Coinbase Prime appears among the identified destinations. But a transfer to this platform, which offers custody and trading services, is not enough to demonstrate a sale.
Bitcoin and BNB leave federal wallets
It was analyst Sani, operator of TimechainIndex, who first spotted a test transaction of 0.00115539 BTC to Coinbase Prime, followed by the movement of 264.86 BTC to a new wallet. These funds are associated with the 2016 Bitfinex hack. Another transfer involves 568 BTC, linked to the Potapenko-Turõgin affair, the founders of the HashFlare mining service.
The publications report a global volume of approximately 833.6 BTC, valued at around $71 million. However, their descriptions of the stages and destinations do not allow us to confirm that the entirety of this sum went directly to Coinbase Prime.
Authorities also moved around 40,285 BNB, worth close to $31.63 million. According to Crypto Briefing, these tokens passed through several operations before reaching an unidentified address, abbreviated 0xBE7…81E. Their final destination and the objective of the transfer remain to be established.
These movements may correspond to a reorganization of conservation, preparation for restitution or other management operations. Public transactions alone do not make it possible to decide between these hypotheses.
Coinbase Prime does not mean automatic sale
The presence of Coinbase Prime is part of an already documented relationship. In July 2024, Coinbase announced that it had been selected by the U.S. Marshals, a department of the Department of Justice responsible in particular for confiscated assets, to provide custody and trading services on certain digital assets. A deposit can therefore be part of custody as well as a commercial operation.
The decree of March 6, 2025 provides that bitcoins deposited in the American strategic reserve will not be sold. This provision does not, however, mean that all BTC allocated to the authorities automatically belong to this reserve. The text provides in particular for exceptions linked to judicial decisions and restitution to victims.
Other cryptocurrencies fall under a separate inventory, the management of which may include sales. This latitude does not prove that the displaced BNB will be liquidated.

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