U.S. Govt Dumps Nearly $4 Million BTC to Coinbase, Price Decline Ahead?

Amid the ongoing market fluctuation, the United States government has reportedly moved a massive amount of Bitcoin (BTC) amounting to $4 million to the Coinbase exchange. This significant action has sparked discussions and raised speculations about the possible impact on the market. Notably, the transferred Bitcoin is part of the digital assets seized in 2021 as a result of a 2018 criminal conviction.

After remaining silent for about 3 weeks, the U.S. govt returned with another staggering transfer at a time when selling pressure mounted in the aftermath of a recent Mt. Gox repayment schedule. The defunct exchange recently moved about $3 billion in BTC, signaling a next-batch repayment plan.

U.S. Government Moves 58 Bitcoins

According to data from Arkham Intelligence, the U.S. govt, one of the largest Bitcoin holders in the world, transferred exactly 58.742 BTC, worth $3.96 million from its internal wallet to Coinbase Prime Deposit. Interestingly, the transfer was initiated from an address identified as “U.S. Government: Ryan Farace Seized Funds.”

This address, held digital assets confiscated in 2021 after 38-year-old Ryan Farace and his father, 72-year-old Joseph Farace were convicted for utilizing the dark web to sell Xanax pills and participating in money laundering. Ryan was previously convicted in 2018 while his father was sentenced in January 2024 by U.S. District Judge Deborah K. Chasanow. The government was able to recover about 2,900 BTC from the duo and has since been liquidating the asset.

Arkham Intelligence data shows that the latest transfer to Coinbase has cleared the Ryan Farace seized funds address as the wallet now holds no more cryptocurrency. The last time this address was functional was three years ago when the 58.7 BTC was shifted into the wallet.

However, the U.S. government’s general wallet address still holds a substantial amount of digital assets amounting to $14.6 billion. Among the assets held in this wallet include $14.21 billion in BTC, $174.82 million in ETH, $121.7 million in USDT, $50.02 million in WBTC, and more.

Will Bitcoin Price Dip?

Even though the amount of BTC moved by the U.S. govt is large, it is unlikely to affect the price of the flagship cryptocurrency. The total BTC transferred represents way below 1% of the total Bitcoin trading volume of $46 billion in the last 24 hours according to CoinMarketCap data. However, it is important to note that the price of the coin is currently down by 0.51%, changing hands at $66,874.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government is not the only entity offloading Bitcoins lately. The state of Saxony in Germany has dumped about 49,800 BTC between June 19 and July 12. At that time, the price of the coin dropped as low as $53,000.