U.S. Government Moves $4M Bitcoin to Coinbase, Arkham Data Show

According to Arkham Intelligence, an address labeled “US Government: Ryan Farace Seized Funds” transferred approximately $4 million worth of BTC to Coinbase 11 hours ago.

Potential selling pressure represents less than 1% of BTC’s 24-hour trading volume.

The U.S. government transferred 58,742 bitcoin {{BTC}} worth approximately $4 million to Coinbase (COIN) on Monday, according to data tracked by blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence.

The transfer originated from an address labeled “U.S. Government: Ryan Farace Seized Funds” and identified on-chain as 3B2jEBZi8fJWGEDrh6Pe7hDMaJ6iGfFtaU. The funds were seized three years ago from Ryan Farace, who was convicted in 2018 for selling Xanax pills on the dark web.

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

The latest fund movement, likely a liquidation move, emptied Ryan Farace’s seized fund address and represents less than 1 percent of Bitcoin’s 24-hour trading volume of over $35 billion, according to data source Coingecko.

Therefore, a potential liquidation of funds via Coinbase is unlikely to significantly negatively impact the spot price, unlike the recent massive 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 as low as $53,500 at one point. As of press time, the leading cryptocurrency by market cap was changing hands at $67,450. Meanwhile, the U.S. government still held more than 213,000 BTC worth more than $14 billion.