U.S. government moves 12,267 bitcoin from a Bitfinex wallet, and no exchange deposit shows up

A wallet tied to bitcoin seized in the 2016 Bitfinex hack sent 12,267 BTC to new, unlabeled addresses on Thursday, according to CoinDesk and Cointelegraph, both citing Arkham's wallet labels. At Coinbase's latest price of $81,679, that is about $1.0 billion. Neither outlet saw a deposit to an exchange.

What the data shows, and what it does not

CoinDesk said the pattern looks more like wallet reshuffling than a sale. That is an inference from on-chain data, not a statement from the U.S. Marshals or the Justice Department. Cointelegraph said it asked both for comment on the earlier Coinbase Prime transfers and had no immediate reply. The owner of the receiving addresses was not known when either story ran.

The move followed a busier day. CoinDesk put Wednesday's flows to Coinbase Prime at roughly 3,200 BTC ($264 million) plus $119 million in USDT. Our morning report carried a larger Cointelegraph figure, 9,261 BTC (about $770 million) over two days, citing Galaxy Research. The counts differ by outlet and by window, and we have not been able to reconcile them. Coinbase Prime also offers custody, so a deposit there is not by itself a sale.

The number behind the number

Coinbase's own 24-hour stats show about 8,553 BTC traded across its main exchange over the past day. The 12,267 BTC that moved is roughly 1.4 times that. It also equals about 10% of the 119,756 BTC stolen in the Bitfinex hack, and about 3.7% of the 328,372 BTC Cointelegraph says estimates put in U.S. government hands. A transfer between wallets does not touch the order book. A sale of this size would, which is why traders watch for exchange deposits and not for the transfer itself.

CoinDesk also noted that a March 2025 executive order directs forfeited bitcoin into a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and says it should not be sold, and that Arkham shows the government still holding about $25.5 billion of crypto.

Where prices stand

Both figures are last price against the 24-hour open from Coinbase's stats endpoint, taken at 8:20 PM ET. Neither move reaches the size we would call a crypto-specific shock on its own, and we cannot attribute it to the wallet transfer. Cointelegraph's Thursday coverage tied bitcoin's slide toward a three-week low to rising oil and Iran strike worries instead.

What to watch

The thing that would change the read is a deposit from these addresses to an exchange, or an official statement from the Marshals or the Justice Department. Until then, it is a large transfer with an unknown destination. Live prices are on our crypto prices page, and the day's other crypto news is in this morning's report.

Sources: CoinDesk; Cointelegraph; Coinbase Exchange BTC-USD stats. Wallet attributions are Arkham's, as reported by those outlets. Information, not investment advice.