POPA ReconUS government 12,267 BTC move (Oct 8, 2026): where it went and whether it is being sold
Yes, the move was reported, but no sale is confirmed. Lookonchain posted at 14:32 UTC that the US government transferred out another 12,267 BTC ($1.01B). CoinDesk reports the coins left a Bitfinex hack seizure wallet and went to new, unlabeled addresses. It says no exchange deposit was recorded, which points to wallet reshuffling rather than a sale. The sources do not name the receiving addresses.
The earlier $770M to Coinbase Prime
Over the prior days, about 9,261 BTC (about $770M) went to Coinbase Prime, per coinpaper, which cites Galaxy Research as saying nearly half came from the 2016 Bitfinex hack recovery. Related earlier reports:
Arkham said on Oct 7 that the government moved $470M of BTC, WBTC and USDT to likely Coinbase Prime deposit addresses. This was seized from the Bitfinex hacker and Alameda Research.
Lookonchain said 834 BTC of an earlier move was deposited into Coinbase Prime.
Three-day total
Korean Alpha tallies 17,795 BTC (about $1.5B) moved: 833 BTC on Oct 6, 4,695 BTC on Oct 7 and 12,267 BTC on Oct 8. It says the purpose is unconfirmed.
Is it a sale?
The Coinbase Prime deposits are the only part that fits a possible sale. Prime is a custody and trading venue, and a deposit alone does not prove a sale.
The 12,267 BTC went to unlabeled addresses with no exchange deposit seen. Posts claiming "selling $1B" are speculation, not on-chain evidence.
A March 2025 executive order says seized Bitcoin goes into the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve, with sales allowed only in narrow cases such as victim compensation, per FuturesWire's summary.
Market
BTC fell below $82,000 after the report (happycoinnews) and later dipped below $81k with over $1B in liquidations. A Telegram digest (AGGREGATOR) attributes the fall to Fed minutes, oil and yields, not to the government.
What to watch
Whether the new addresses deposit to an exchange or Coinbase Prime. A sale would show up as exactly that. Without it, this looks like internal movement.
Links: Arkham USG entity · Lookonchain post · CoinDesk report