A wallet that blockchain analytics platform Arkham tags as containing the Bitfinex hacker’s seized Bitcoin transferred 12,267 BTC — roughly $1.01 billion — in a single transaction at 9:33 a.m. ET on Thursday. Almost the entire sum arrived at a fresh, unlabeled address, while 0.0012 BTC went separately to a second wallet.
No exchange was involved, and shuffling funds between wallets doesn’t automatically signal a sale. Even so, Arkham’s data flags both outputs as already spent, indicating the coins have changed hands again since.
The 2016 hack behind the seized stash
These coins belong to the pool of approximately 94,000 BTC that US authorities took control of in 2022 from Ilya Lichtenstein — the architect of the 2016 Bitfinex breach — and his wife, Heather “Razzlekhan” Morgan. Officials have been drip-feeding portions of that hoard for months; in April, a modest batch of around 8.2 BTC from the same seizure was sent to Coinbase Prime.
A pattern of government transfers
Per Arkham, wallets linked to the government pushed about $119 million in USDT to Coinbase Prime on Wednesday, together with roughly 2,574 BTC — valued near $215 million — that moved through intermediary addresses. Back in July, $288 million in confiscated crypto was shifted to Coinbase Prime.
Those deposits don’t confirm any coins were sold. Coinbase Prime also provides custody services, so assets parked there could simply be switching guardians.
What about the reserve?
The latest activity revives uncertainty over Washington’s plans for its holdings. President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order channeled forfeited Bitcoin into a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve intended never to be sold. Come August of that year, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent softened earlier remarks implying the government wouldn’t purchase additional Bitcoin, saying it would pursue budget-neutral avenues for growing the reserve.
Before that order, a federal court ruling in January 2025 opened the door to selling $6.5 billion worth of Bitcoin confiscated from Silk Road.
Arkham pegs the government’s remaining holdings at roughly 306,795 BTC — about $24.85 billion with Bitcoin trading around $81,000. Thursday’s $1.01 billion transfer amounts to a tiny fraction of that stockpile. The transaction on its own reveals little; where the coins surface next could prove far more revealing.