12,267 BTC Worth $1B: US Moves Bitfinex-Case Coins to New Wallets

The US government moved 12,267 BTC, worth about $1.01 billion at the time of the transfer, in a single transaction on Thursday, Oct. 8, from a wallet holding coins seized in the 2016 Bitfinex hack. Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence flagged the move. The coins went to fresh, unlabeled addresses rather than to an exchange, so there is no sign of a sale yet. It is the largest shift of government-held bitcoin this week, coming a day after $770 million was sent to Coinbase Prime.

Details

According to Arkham data cited by CoinDesk, the 12,267 BTC landed on new addresses with no known attribution, not on exchange deposit addresses. That pattern looks more like a wallet reorganization than preparation to sell. Cointelegraph confirmed the amount and the source: Arkham links the sending wallet to funds recovered from the Bitfinex breach, in which hackers drained 119,756 BTC. The recipient was unknown at publication time, and neither the US Marshals Service nor the Justice Department responded to the outlet's requests for comment.

This is the third wave of transfers in two days. On Oct. 7⁠–⁠8, by Galaxy Research's count reported by Cointelegraph and Bitcoin.com, the government sent 9,261 BTC (about $770 million) to Coinbase Prime. Roughly half were Bitfinex coins, part came from known Binance-case seizures, and 2,456 BTC arrived from previously unknown wallets that Galaxy assumes are new law-enforcement seizures. We covered the first of those transfers overnight.

In total, Galaxy estimates US government addresses hold about 319,000 BTC, of which roughly 94,600 BTC trace back to the Bitfinex case. The March 2025 executive order creating the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve bars selling coins placed in the reserve, but it carves out exceptions, including returning funds to victims and complying with court orders. The Bitfinex coins belong to a case with an identifiable injured party.

What it means for the market

A move to new addresses is neutral on its own: the coins remain under government control. But more than 21,500 BTC have stirred in two days, and the timing coincides with a sell-off. According to our data, bitcoin trades near $81,030, down 3.0% over 24 hours, with a session low of $80,800, the weakest level since Sept. 20. In this state, any hint of a sale or of payouts to Bitfinex creditors would be priced in fast.

The next signal is where the coins on the new addresses go: to Coinbase Prime, like the earlier batches, or nowhere. Follow price and sentiment on our dashboard and the bitcoin page.