$1 billion of seized Bitfinex bitcoin leaves a US government wallet, with no exchange in sight

The US government moved about $1 billion of seized bitcoin on Thursday, the largest in a string of transfers this week. A wallet that the analytics firm Arkham labels as holding funds seized from the Bitfinex hacker sent 12,267 bitcoin, worth about $1.01 billion, in a single transaction at 9:33 a.m. Eastern, Decrypt reported.

Nearly all of it went to a new, unlabeled address. The coins did not go to an exchange, and Arkham shows they have since moved again, according to Decrypt. CoinDesk said the pattern points to a reshuffling of wallets rather than a sale.

The bitcoin is part of roughly 94,000 that the government seized in 2022 from Ilya Lichtenstein, who carried out the 2016 hack of the exchange Bitfinex, and his wife, Heather Morgan.

It was the latest of several moves. On Wednesday, government-linked wallets sent $119 million of USDT and more than 2,500 bitcoin to Coinbase Prime, the exchange's service for institutions. The two outlets counted that day's bitcoin differently: Decrypt put it at about 2,574 and CoinDesk at roughly 3,200. Coinbase Prime also offers custody, so a deposit there does not confirm a sale. Before that, more than $100 million in bitcoin and BNB moved in a similar way, CoinDesk reported.

Under a March 2025 executive order, forfeited bitcoin is meant to go into a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and not be sold. Arkham shows the government still holding about 306,800 bitcoin, worth roughly $24.85 billion, according to Decrypt.

What to watch is where the coins go next. Neither report recorded a sale.