A US government wallet holding Bitcoin seized from the 2016 Bitfinex hack moved 12,267 BTC, worth about $1 billion, on Thursday.
The transfer went out at 9:33am Eastern time in a single transaction, according to blockchain analytics firm Arkham. Almost all of it went to a new, unlabelled address, and none of it went to an exchange.
Where the coins came from
The Bitcoin is part of roughly 94,000 BTC seized in 2022 from Ilya Lichtenstein, who carried out the Bitfinex hack, and his wife Heather Morgan. Both later pleaded guilty.
Those coins are not the government’s to keep. A US federal court has ordered the seized Bitcoin returned to Bitfinex as restitution, which makes a return to the exchange one possible explanation for Thursday’s move. No official explanation for the transfer has been reported.
Part of a busier week
Thursday’s move followed others. On Wednesday, government-linked wallets sent about 2,574 BTC, worth around $215 million, and roughly $119 million in USDT to Coinbase Prime through intermediary addresses, according to Arkham. In July, $288 million in seized crypto went the same way.
Transfers to Coinbase Prime do not prove a sale either. It offers custody as well as trading.
The reserve question
Under a March 2025 executive order, forfeited Bitcoin is meant to go into a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve that will not be sold. Restitution to victims sits outside that pool, so coins owed to Bitfinex were never going to stay in the reserve.
Arkham says the US government still holds about 306,795 BTC, worth roughly $24.85 billion. Bitcoin traded near $81,000 on Thursday, down almost 5% on the day.
