The U.S. government has transferred a small amount of Bitcoin seized from Alameda Research’s Binance.US accounts three years ago, renewing attention on how federal agencies will handle the remaining assets.
Summary
- The transferred Bitcoin came from Alameda-linked accounts seized from Binance.US three years ago.
- Arkham reported the transaction but did not identify it as a sale.
- Earlier Alameda-linked transfers sent nearly $2.9 million in seized crypto through government-controlled wallets.
- Federal rules generally restrict sales of Bitcoin placed in the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
Arkham Intelligence reported the transaction on Aug. 26, describing the amount as small and tracing the Bitcoin to Alameda accounts on Binance.US that U.S. authorities seized three years earlier.
The blockchain analytics firm did not publish the amount in its indexed post or identify the receiving address. Arkham also did not say that officials had sold the Bitcoin, leaving the transaction’s purpose unconfirmed.
“The US Government just moved a small amount of Bitcoin that had been seized from Alameda accounts on Binance US, 3 years ago,” Arkham said.
Arkham then asked whether the government would begin liquidating the remaining Bitcoin connected to Alameda. The question was not tied to an announcement from the Department of Justice, the Treasury Department, or another federal agency.
The Bitcoin transfer does not confirm a sale
Moving Bitcoin between addresses records a change in custody or location on the blockchain, but the transaction alone does not show whether the asset has been sold. A transfer to another government wallet may involve custody, accounting, or security management, while movement to an exchange can make a future sale possible without proving one occurred.
The destination is especially important because federal agencies have regularly used Coinbase Prime to store and manage seized digital assets. Coinbase’s institutional platform offers both custody and trading services, meaning a deposit there can support several purposes.
In July, U.S. government-linked wallets transferred nearly $297 million in seized Bitcoin and Ether to Coinbase Prime. The transaction included about 3,940 BTC and 30,014 ETH tied to separate enforcement cases, according to earlier transaction coverage.
Bitcoin connected to Ryan Farace, an online drug dealer known as “Xanaxman,” and the closed BTC-e exchange formed part of the July transfer. Ether linked to a separate money laundering case also moved to Coinbase Prime.
No public blockchain record can show whether an exchange deposit resulted in an executed trade unless additional evidence reveals a conversion or movement of the sale proceeds. The same limitation applies to the latest Alameda-linked Bitcoin transaction.
Alameda assets have moved several times in 2026
Federal wallets have processed other seized assets tied to Alameda and FTX during 2026, providing a record of how authorities have handled smaller token holdings.
In May, Arkham said the government moved about $1.89 million in Render, Uniswap, The Sandbox, Mask Network, and Axie Infinity tokens to Coinbase Prime. The analytics firm traced the tokens to approximately $13 million in Alameda assets seized from Binance accounts more than three years earlier.
Another transaction followed in June, when government-controlled wallets transferred nearly $984,000 in FTX- and Alameda-linked cryptocurrency. At least $768,000 of the total went to Coinbase Prime, as crypto.news reported at the time.
Arkham said the June assets would go to the FTX estate to help repay creditors. The transaction included Chainlink and several smaller tokens, while the remaining amount moved through addresses connected to the same seized asset group.
Federal wallets had also moved more than $33 million in Alameda-linked cryptocurrency in December 2024. According to an Arkham report, the batch included about $18 million in Ether, $13 million in BUSD, and smaller amounts of Wrapped Bitcoin, Shiba Inu, and Axie Infinity.
Arkham said the 2024 assets moved to a newly created address and noted that no official purpose had been announced. The firm presented creditor distributions, wallet consolidation, and asset management as possible explanations rather than confirmed reasons for the transfers.
U.S. reserve rules limit some Bitcoin sales
President Donald Trump’s March 2025 executive order established the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and directed the Treasury Department to fund it with Bitcoin finally forfeited through criminal or civil proceedings.
Under the order, Bitcoin deposited into the reserve cannot be sold and must remain a U.S. reserve asset. A recent Bitcoin reserve explainer estimated that the federal government held approximately 198,000 BTC as of mid-2026, although public trackers produce different totals based on the addresses and legal categories they include.
The White House order does not place every seized coin under an absolute ban on disposal. It allows agencies to return assets to verified victims, comply with court orders, support law enforcement operations, and meet requirements under federal forfeiture laws.
Legal status, therefore, determines how a particular holding can be handled. Bitcoin that has been finally forfeited and transferred into the reserve receives different treatment from property still involved in a court case, creditor recovery process, or victim compensation plan.
The White House also created a U.S. Digital Asset Stockpile for forfeited assets other than Bitcoin. Treasury has more room to manage or sell tokens held in the stockpile, while the order gives Bitcoin placed in the reserve a general no-sale policy.
No federal agency has said whether the Bitcoin moved on Aug. 26 had entered the reserve, remained assigned to the FTX recovery process, or fell under one of the order’s exceptions.
FTX creditors remain tied to the seized assets
Alameda Research operated as the trading firm associated with FTX before the exchange collapsed in November 2022. Federal prosecutors later said FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried used customer deposits to finance Alameda’s operations, investments and loan repayments.
The Justice Department said Bankman-Fried misappropriated billions of dollars deposited by FTX customers and gave Alameda access to the funds. A federal jury convicted him in November 2023 on seven counts, including wire fraud, securities fraud conspiracy, commodities fraud conspiracy, and money laundering conspiracy.
In March 2024, U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan sentenced Bankman-Fried to 25 years in prison. The Justice Department said the sentence included forfeiture of more than $11 billion, while prosecutors placed FTX customer losses at more than $8 billion.
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