The US government moved approximately $566 million in seized digital assets to Coinbase Prime on October 7, 2026, according to on-chain records. The transfers included Bitcoin, Tether's USDT and a tranche of BNB, with a portion explicitly tied to forfeitures from the FTX and Alameda Research cases.

The movement broke down across several wallets:

• Roughly $470 million in BTC and USDT went to Coinbase Prime addresses.
• A separate $94.15 million USDT transfer was explicitly tagged to FTX and Alameda forfeitures.
• Around 833.6 BTC landed in Coinbase Prime addresses.
• About 40,285 BNB, valued near $31.63 million, moved from FTX and Alameda seizure wallets into intermediary addresses — not directly to Coinbase Prime.

What is Coinbase Prime's role in government crypto custody?

Coinbase Prime has served since 2024 as the designated custodian for US Marshals Service transfers of seized digital assets. The unit provides custody and trading services to large holders and has handled billions in confiscated coins. In June 2026, roughly $984,000 in LINK and AAVE tied to FTX holdings was routed to the same platform, according to public transaction histories.

What is the legal chain behind the seizures?

The seized assets trace to the multi-agency enforcement actions following the November 2022 collapse of FTX and the related fraud case against Alameda Research. By early 2026, the FTX bankruptcy estate had distributed more than $7.6 billion to creditors, with court-supervised proceedings still ongoing. Forfeited funds held by the government sit on a separate legal track from the bankruptcy estate and can only be liquidated through specific channels, typically via the US Marshals Service.

Will the government sell the Bitcoin?

The key open question is whether the BTC tranche falls under a 2025 executive order restricting the sale of certain reserved assets, including Bitcoin earmarked for the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. If the 833.6 BTC sits outside that protected bucket, liquidation via Coinbase Prime's institutional desk becomes the operational default. Custody assignment alone does not trigger a sale; disposition decisions rest with the Marshals Service and the Department of Justice.

The BNB tranche adds a separate market-structure concern. At roughly $31.63 million, the 40,285-token position is small next to the Bitcoin and USDT totals, but BNB markets typically operate with thinner order books than BTC. A forced liquidation routed through over-the-counter desks or spot exchanges would leave a disproportionately larger footprint relative to size.

What does this mean for FTX creditors?

Every forfeited dollar that completes the legal channel and is converted to fiat through approved venues returns, in principle, to general recoveries — separate from the bankruptcy estate distributions that already crossed $7.6 billion by early 2026. The exact math depends on which forfeiture buckets remain open and which agencies — DOJ, the Marshals Service or state attorneys general — control their disposition.

The transfers continue a familiar routing pattern. Coinbase Prime has handled four consecutive quarters of large-scale government-seized crypto transfers dating back to 2024, and the October batch is the largest single-day movement since the June 2026 LINK and AAVE tranche. The next data point is likely to come from Treasury's quarterly forfeiture report, due later this quarter.