US Government Transfers $71 Million in Bitcoin and BNB from FTX Wallets

The U.S. government recently moved a significant amount of Bitcoin and BNB from forfeited FTX wallets, breaking a six-week silence on such transactions. The transfers, totaling $71 million in Bitcoin and $31.63 million in BNB, were first spotted by onchain analyst Sani. The government conducted test transfers before moving larger sums, including 264.86266831 BTC to a new wallet and 40,285.07 BNB.

The Bitcoin involved in these transfers was linked to the 2016 Bitfinex hack, where 120,000 BTC were stolen. The U.S. government seized 94,636 BTC from the hackers, Ilya Lichtenstein and Heather Morgan, years later. Additionally, the government moved 568 BTC from the Potapenko-Turogin fraud case, involving a fake cloud mining operation called Hashflare.

All these transfers were directed to Coinbase Prime, which has a longstanding relationship with the U.S. government for managing digital assets. The government now holds 323,693.83 BTC worth $27.72 billion, following these recent movements.