Here’s another rewritten version with a more concise, publication-style approach:
The U.S. government moved roughly $288 million worth of seized bitcoin and ether to Coinbase Prime, with assets from the Farace and BTC-e cases passing through newly created wallets before reaching the exchange. The transfers have drawn attention because they occurred despite President Donald Trump’s previous order directing seized bitcoin to be held in reserve rather than sold.
Blockchain data from Arkham shows that government-controlled wallets transferred the assets over several hours on Monday. The ether moved directly to Coinbase Prime, while the bitcoin transactions followed an additional routing step through intermediary addresses.
The activity comes after Trump’s March 2025 executive order established the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, which called for seized bitcoin to remain under government control instead of being liquidated.
A wallet linked to the Ryan Farace “xanaxman” case transferred 2,875 BTC worth approximately $178 million to a newly created address. That wallet then forwarded the entire balance to a Coinbase Prime deposit address shortly afterward.
A separate wallet connected to the defunct BTC-e exchange seizure moved 925.512 BTC, valued at around $57 million, through another temporary wallet before sending the funds to Coinbase Prime. Both intermediary addresses were emptied following the transactions.
The ether transfer followed a different structure. A wallet associated with Brian Krewson’s $54 million Oracle employee laundering case sent 30,007 ETH worth about $53.09 million directly to Coinbase Prime, without an intermediary step.
Another 140.214 BTC was transferred between government-linked Coinbase Prime accounts and a Coinbase cold wallet, a movement that appears consistent with internal custody management rather than an external deposit.
The transfers alone do not confirm that the government intends to sell the assets. Coinbase Prime also provides institutional custody, settlement, and financing services, meaning funds can be moved there for reasons beyond liquidation.
However, exchange deposits often attract market attention because they can precede asset sales or conversions. Large government crypto holdings are typically stored in cold wallets for security, making transfers to exchanges more closely watched.
Despite the size of the transaction, the moved assets represent only a small portion of the government’s broader crypto reserves. Related wallets still hold about $20.65 billion in digital assets, including roughly 324,552 BTC, 28,394 ETH, and 145.5 million USDT.
