A strange transaction of 3,940 Bitcoins, or $241 million, has become the center of attention on social media. This transfer from an address identified as belonging to the United States was intended for the American exchange Coinbase. What happened ?
After Germany, it's the turn of the United States
A few days earlier, the information broke. Germany had just moved 6,500 Bitcoins to various centralized exchanges (CEX) including Coinbase, Kraken and Bitstamp. The United States seems to want to follow in the footsteps of the 4th nation with the most BTC, since it has also made a transaction to the American exchange Coinbase..
It was the on-chain detective Lookonchain who revealed the information first, via a thread on X:
Note that the US government wallets deposited 3,940 $BTC($241.22M) into #Coinbase Prime 5 minutes ago.
The US government currently holds 213,546 $BTC($13.07B). pic.twitter.com/CAc87E2xFa
— Lookonchain (@lookonchain) June 26, 2024
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This thread reveals that an address identified as belonging to the United States had just made a transaction of 3940 BTC, or approximately $241 million at the time of writing..
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Bitcoins from an illegal drug market?
According to Arkham, a company specializing in on-chain analysis, these BTC would come from a seizure that took place in January 2024 on Banmeet Singh, an Indian citizen who used BTC as a means of receiving payment on his drug sales site.
The latter was recognized guilty of substance trafficking and money laundering at trial.
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The confiscation of these BTC was worth $150 million at the time when the price of Bitcoin was between $42,000 and $44,000. The price of BTC being at the time of writing around $61,000, the value of this confiscation is currently $241 million.
It will be interesting to keep an eye on the next moves that state powers might make. As a reminder, the United States today owns 213,546 BTC for a value of $13 billion, making it one of the largest holders in the world.
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Sources: Lookonchain, Arkham
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Passionate about the blockchain ecosystem, I like to deepen my knowledge and share my discoveries. In a perpetual quest to learn more about cryptos, I recently joined the Cryptoast Research team where I provide weekly fundamental analysis.
Théo Zananiri
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