US Government Moves $4 Million Worth of Bitcoin to Coinbase

The U.S. government transferred 58,742 bitcoins (BTC) worth approximately $4 million to crypto exchange Coinbase (COIN) yesterday, according to data tracked by blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence.

The transfer occurred from an address named “US Government: Funds Seized from Ryan Farace” and was identified as 3B2jEBZi8fJWGEDrh6Pe7hDMaJ6iGfFtaU. The funds were seized three years ago from Ryan Farace, who was convicted of selling Xanax pills on the dark web in 2018.

Ryan’s father, Joseph Farace, was later found guilty of laundering bitcoin proceeds for federal forfeiture purposes. The Justice Department recovered 2,933 BTC from the father-son duo and announced its intention to liquidate the assets in January of this year.

Perhaps signaling a liquidation, the funds movement has completely emptied Ryan Farace’s compromised fund address, according to data platform Coingecko, representing less than 1 percent of bitcoin’s 24-hour trading volume of more than $35 billion.

Therefore, even if the funds are liquidated, it is unlikely to significantly negatively impact the spot price as was the case with the recent BTC sale by the German state of Saxony.

Saxony sold 49,858 BTC between June 19 and July 12, sending the token’s spot price down to $53,500. At the time of writing, the leading cryptocurrency by market cap is trading at $67,450. The U.S. government still holds more than 213,000 BTC worth over $14 billion.