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

The U.S. government transferred 58.742 bitcoin (BTC), worth nearly $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 onchain 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.
Later Ryan’s father, Joseph Farace, was convicted as well for laundering and trafficking bitcoin proceeds intended for federal forfeiture. The Department of Justice eventually recovered 2,933 BTC from the father-son duo and announced its intention to liquidate holdings in January of this year.
The latest movement of funds, perhaps a move aimed at liquidation, has emptied the Ryan Farace seized funds address and represents less than 1% of bitcoin’s 24-hour trading volume of over $35 billion, according to data source Coingecko.
As such, the potential liquidation of funds through Coinbase is unlikely to negatively impact the spot price significantly as the recent large sale of BTC by Germany’s Saxony state did.
Saxony sold 49,858 BTC between June 19 and July 12, driving the token’s spot price as low as $53,500 at one point. As of writing, the leading cryptocurrency by market value changed hands at $67,450. Meanwhile, the U.S. government still held over 213,000 BTC worth over $14 billion.
Edited by Parikshit Mishra.

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Omkar Godbole is a Co-Managing Editor on CoinDesk’s Markets team.