Wallets thought to be associated with the U.S. government have moved a sizable portion of cryptocurrencies — specifically 3,940 bitcoins worth $241 million — onto Coinbase, according to on-chain sleuth Lookonchain. This comes just hours after the same pseudonymous researcher found evidence that the German government had moved 750 bitcoins.
It is not uncommon for governments to sell or auction off crypto collected through criminal investigations or other asset seizures. Billionaire bitcoiner Tim Draper, for instance, purchased nearly 30,000 bitcoins seized from the Silk Road darknet market by the U.S. Marshals Service in 2014.
Data provider Arkham Research traced the U.S. transaction and found the 3,940 bitcoins were originally seized from Indian national Banmeet Singh. In 2024, he pleaded guilty to distributing controlled substances and money laundering offenses and was ordered to forfeit cryptocurrencies worth approximately $150 million at the time.
A source with direct knowledge of the matter confirmed to The Block that Coinbase controls the receiving address.
According to data site Bitcoin Treasuries, the U.S. government currently possesses 213,546 BTC, worth over $13 billion at the current market price, making it one of the world’s largest bitcoin holders. The German government, meanwhile, is the world’s fourth-largest sovereign holder of bitcoin, behind China and Great Britain, with 46,359 coins.
Casa co-founder and Bitcoin educator Jameson Lopp has tracked U.S. government sales of bitcoin and found it has seized and sold off at least 195,091 bitcoins, earning over $366 million, since 2014.
Known government bitcoin stockpiles account for 2.7% of the total 21 million bitcoin supply.
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