Government's seized $288M in $BTC and $ETH pulled up a chair at Coinbase Prime 🪑

U.S. government wallets moved roughly $288 million in seized bitcoin and ether onto Coinbase Prime on Monday, with on-chain data from Arkham showing the ether transferred directly while the bitcoin first passed through newly created intermediary addresses. The activity comes months after President Donald Trump signed a March 2025 executive order directing seized bitcoin into a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and prohibiting its sale.

A wallet tied to Ryan Farace, known in court filings as "xanaxman," sent 2,875 BTC valued at approximately $178 million to a fresh address, which then forwarded the full 2,875 BTC to a Coinbase Prime deposit wallet minutes later. A second address connected to the defunct exchange BTC-e moved 925.512 BTC worth about $57 million through the same pattern, with both intermediary wallets subsequently emptied.

Ether bypassed the extra step. A wallet linked to Brian Krewson, the Oracle employee identified in a $54 million laundering case, sent 30,007 ETH worth $53.09 million straight to a Coinbase Prime deposit address. Separately, 140.214 BTC shifted between government-linked Coinbase Prime addresses and a Coinbase cold wallet, appearing on both inbound and outbound sides in a pattern consistent with internal rebalancing rather than a liquidation event.

Coinbase Prime provides custody, financing and trading services, so routing seized assets to the platform does not by itself confirm a sale. Transfers to exchange infrastructure, however, are generally associated with preparation to dispose of or convert holdings, as large cryptocurrency balances are typically stored in cold wallets for security reasons. The government-linked wallets continue to hold approximately $20.65 billion in digital assets, including 324,552 BTC, 28,394 ETH and 145.549 million USDT, meaning the latest batch represents only a small fraction of its overall portfolio.