“Follow the money. » The advice offered in The President's Men (1976) has not aged a bit, and it applies today to Washington's bitcoins. Indeed, this Thursday, October 8, 2026, a wallet attributed to the American government sent 12,267 BTC to a brand new address. This is the third day of transfers in a row, after the $103 million in Bitcoin and BNB moved on Tuesday. This time, the funds did not go to Coinbase Prime, and Washington provided no explanation.
12,267 BTC leave the US government's Bitfinex wallet
The facts fit in two lines about Arkham Explorer, the on-chain analytics company that labels state addresses. This Thursday mid-afternoon Paris time, the “U.S. Government: Bitfinex Hacker Seized Funds” wallet sent 12,267 BTC, approximately $1.01 billion, to a new, unlabeled address. The Lookonchain account reported the movement on X, supporting Arkham capture. We read a second line, ten minutes later: 0.00019 BTC, or $15.57, sent by the same wallet to another address.
Lookonchain details the rest of the journey. Of this lot, 6,000 BTC were distributed in two transactions to the address 33pYK…cFk, and around 6,267 BTC are lying dormant on another new address. None bears the label of an exchange platform.
The day before, a micro-transaction of 1.22 dollars before 384 million in bitcoin
Do you feel like you've read this story before? On the evening of Wednesday, October 7, the same Bitfinex wallet sent 0.0000147 BTC, or $1.22, to an intermediate address. A test shipment, the reflex of anyone preparing to move a fortune. In the process, the amounts changed scale. On the night of Wednesday to Thursday, at 2:55 a.m. Paris time, Lookonchain counted 566 million dollars moved over the previous ten hours, including 4,632 BTC (384.5 million), 119 million USDT from FTX/Alameda seizures and 750 WBTC (62.34 million), the version of bitcoin which circulates on Ethereum. These funds did land on Coinbase Prime deposit addresses, according to the Arkham labels.
Tuesday, October 6, 833.6 BTC opened the ball, also preceded by a test. Lookonchain calculates the amounts moved before this Thursday at 6,215.7 BTC. With today's 12,267 BTC, our addition exceeds 18,400 BTC in three days. The market is coughing. Bitcoin fell below $84,000 on Wednesday and was around $81,400 this Thursday late afternoon.
No bitcoin sales confirmed by the US government
A deposit on Coinbase Prime does not prove any sale, because the platform selected by the US Marshals Service in July 2024 also ensures the conservation of seized assets. And the 12,267 BTC of the day didn’t even get there.
The legal framework is known. The decree signed by Donald Trump on March 6, 2025 prohibits the sale of bitcoins paid to the strategic reserve, subject to exceptions, including a court decision, a legal obligation or restitution to victims. Bitfinex funds may fall into the latter scenario. They come from the 2016 hack, 119,754 BTC stolen, of which around 95,000 BTC were seized in 2022 and are subject to restitution requests. A reorganization of custody or the preparation of a reimbursement are therefore as plausible as a transfer. The blockchain shows the flow of funds and remains silent on intentions. No official communication accompanied these movements at the time of writing.
