On June 26, a crypto wallet linked to the US government transferred 3,940 BTC (~$240 million) to the Coinbase Prime exchange. This was reported by Arkham Intelligence analysts.
Update: US Government Sends $240M BTC to Coinbase Prime
The US Government just moved 3,940 BTC ($240M) to Coinbase Prime.
This BTC was originally seized from narcotics trafficker Banmeet Singh, and forfeited at trial in January 2024.
Transaction: https://t.co/hZ1CwqWCmF pic.twitter.com/9t6k8Wdizq
According to the researchers, these funds were confiscated from drug dealer Banmit Singh in May.
The seizure procedure was carried out as part of the January trial. Then an Indian citizen pleaded guilty to selling narcotic substances on darknet marketplaces and agreed to pay $150 million. From 2012 to 2017, he operated on the already closed platforms Silk Road, Alpha Bay, Hansa and others, accepting payments in cryptocurrency.
According to the tracker of Casa co—founder and technical director Jameson Lopp, since 2014, the United States has confiscated and sold a total of 195,091 BTC for $366.4 million - the average cost per coin is about $1,878.5.
Confiscation of bitcoins by the US government. Data: jlopp.github.io.Given the current course, the US government has potentially missed out on a profit of $11.5 billion.
At the time of writing, 213,546 BTC worth almost $13 billion is stored at a government-linked address.
Earlier, Bitcoin Magazine CEO David Bailey accused the United States of embezzling bitcoins. According to him, the stock of the country's first cryptocurrency was supposed to exceed 400,000 BTC, but instead the Democrats sold a significant part of the assets at an undervalued price.
In January, the United States notified of the planned sale of 2,875 BTC confiscated from drug traffickers of the Silk Road darknet marketplace, Ryan Faras and Sean Bridges.
In early April, a wallet controlled by the American authorities initiated the transfer of ~2000 BTC to the address of the Coinbase Prime platform.
Recall that the recent transfer followed the implementation of 595.3 BTC in the amount of ~$36.65 million by the German government. Presumably, we are talking about coins confiscated by law enforcement officers in January from the administrators of the pirate movie site Movie2k.