Key Points
- Wallets believed to be linked with the U.S. government have transferred 3,940 bitcoins, valued at $241 million, to Coinbase.
- The U.S. government is one of the world’s largest bitcoin holders, with 213,546 bitcoins, valued at over $13 billion.
A significant amount of Bitcoin (BTC), specifically 3,940 BTC worth $241 million, has been moved to Coinbase from wallets suspected to be linked to the U.S. government. This news comes shortly after reports of the German government moving 750 bitcoins.
Government Involvement in Cryptocurrency
It’s not rare for governments to auction off or sell cryptocurrency obtained from criminal investigations or asset seizures. For example, billionaire bitcoiner Tim Draper bought about 30,000 bitcoins in 2014 that had been confiscated from the Silk Road darknet market by the U.S. Marshals Service.
The 3,940 bitcoins moved to Coinbase were traced back to Banmeet Singh, an Indian national, by Arkham Research. Singh was convicted in 2024 for distributing controlled substances and money laundering offenses and was ordered to forfeit cryptocurrencies worth about $150 million at the time.
The U.S. Government as a Bitcoin Holder
According to Bitcoin Treasuries, the U.S. government currently owns 213,546 bitcoins, valued at over $13 billion. This makes it one of the largest bitcoin holders globally. The German government follows closely as the world’s fourth-largest sovereign holder of bitcoin, with 46,359 coins, behind China and Great Britain.
Bitcoin educator and Casa co-founder, Jameson Lopp, has tracked U.S. government sales of bitcoin. He found that since 2014, it has seized and sold at least 195,091 bitcoins, earning over $366 million. Government-held bitcoin stockpiles account for 2.7% of the total 21 million bitcoin supply.
