The US government transferred $288 million of confiscated crypto assets to Coinbase Prime
7/14/2026, 09:03 AM • Евгения Слив

According to data from the analytical company Arkham Intelligence, the United States government has transferred crypto assets worth approximately $288 million to the Coinbase Prime platform. These transfers included 3,800 bitcoins and over 30,000 Ethereum coins that were previously confiscated in various high-profile criminal cases. Specifically, the moved funds are linked to investigations involving former Oracle employee Brian Kruse, the liquidated cryptocurrency exchange BTC-e, and the notorious drug trafficker Ryan Farah, who operated under the pseudonym xanaxman. As noted by CoinDesk, the largest single transfer originated from a wallet associated with the Farah case: 2,875 BTC, valued at approximately $178 million, were first sent to a new address before all coins were deposited into the Coinbase Prime wallet. Additionally, a wallet associated with BTC-e transferred another 925.5 BTC, worth around $57 million, following a similar pattern.
In parallel, the Ethereum confiscated in the Brian Kruse case was transferred directly to the Coinbase Prime platform. This transaction involved 30,007 ETH, with a total value exceeding $53 million. At the same time, journalists noted that an additional 140.2 BTC were moved between government addresses on Coinbase Prime and the exchange's cold wallet. Experts suggest that such operations are likely internal asset redistributions for security purposes rather than direct preparations for an immediate sale. A statement from CoinDesk emphasizes that moving funds to centralized exchanges is typically viewed by the market as a precursor to a sale or exchange for other assets, such as stablecoins, since large volumes of cryptocurrency are traditionally stored on cold wallets for security reasons rather than on active exchange accounts.
Despite these massive movements, the US government maintains control over a colossal portfolio of digital assets. According to Arkham data, following the completion of the latest transactions, federal authorities still hold crypto assets with an estimated total value of $20.65 billion. This substantial reserve specifically includes 324,552 BTC, 28,394 ETH, and 145.5 million USDT stablecoins. The current scale of these holdings demonstrates significant growth compared to earlier estimates. It is worth recalling that in July 2025, journalists conducted an investigation suggesting that the US government owned only 28,988 bitcoins at the time, highlighting just how substantially the volume of confiscated digital assets under state control has increased and consolidated in recent periods.
***
The material is prepared solely for informational purposes and does not constitute a financial advice or recommendation.
