Galaxy Research said on Oct. 8 that it had traced recent U.S. government bitcoin transfers and the historical composition of the government’s BTC holdings on-chain.
The firm said the U.S. government sent about 9,261 BTC, worth roughly $770 million, to Coinbase Prime over two days. Its focus, Galaxy Research said, was not whether the funds were about to be sold, but how the historical use of the deposit address helps identify the source and makeup of the government’s current BTC holdings.
Coinbase Prime deposit address received 11,567 BTC
According to Galaxy Research, the Coinbase Prime deposit address was first used in December 2025 and has since received a cumulative 11,567 BTC. Of that amount, 6,406 BTC came from wallets already labeled as U.S. government wallets, while 5,160 BTC came from wallets that had not previously been tagged.
Within the latest 9,261 BTC transfer, nearly half can be traced to funds recovered by the U.S. government from the Bitfinex hack. Another portion came from previously known Binance-related seizure assets.
Galaxy Research said 2,456 BTC in the transfer had no clear government ownership label before. Still, because those coins entered the same Coinbase Prime deposit address through the same path used by known government funds, the firm currently treats them as U.S. government seizure assets.
Galaxy Research estimates current holdings at 319,086 BTC
After breaking down the composition of the holdings, Galaxy Research estimated that the U.S. government currently holds about 319,086 BTC.
About 71% of that total is concentrated in two categories of assets that have not fully become final government property: LuBian-related BTC and bitcoin recovered from the Bitfinex case.
On the Bitfinex side, a U.S. federal court approved the in-kind return of seized Bitfinex hack funds to Bitfinex in January 2025. Galaxy Research said the main address holding about 94,643 BTC has not moved.
The other major category is LuBian-related BTC. The U.S. Department of Justice filed a civil forfeiture action in October 2025 against Chen Zhi and related assets involving about 127,271 BTC. Galaxy Research said those LuBian coins had already entered addresses attributed to the U.S. government in June and July 2024, so its accounting starts from that point.
Historical inflows top 555,260 BTC
Over a longer period, addresses linked to the U.S. government have received about 555,260 BTC since 2013, worth about $16.1 billion at the time of receipt, according to the analysis. Over the same period, about 236,173 BTC flowed out, worth about $3.8 billion at the time.
Excluding internal transfers between government-controlled addresses, Galaxy Research said this latest movement ranks as the ninth-largest single-day BTC outflow in the U.S. government’s history when measured using already labeled government addresses. It was also the largest such transfer since Dec. 2, 2024.
Transfer to Coinbase Prime does not confirm a sale
Galaxy Research said a transfer of BTC to Coinbase Prime should not be read as confirmation that the U.S. government has sold the assets. Coinbase Prime provides both digital asset custody and trading services, and on-chain transfers alone do not show the specific purpose of the funds.