The US government's $1B bitcoin move on Oct-08 didn't stay put. We traced it on-chain.
12,267 BTC left a government address at 13:33 UTC. Two new addresses got tiny test deposits first, then the coins in chunks. By 14:47 UTC a custodian had swept all of it, mixed with other clients' deposits; most landed in a hot wallet that has handled 26.1M BTC. 74 minutes, start to finish.
The bigger pile hasn't moved: the 94,643 BTC seized in 2022 still sit in their original wallet, not one satoshi spent.
A custodian is not a sale, and our own labels can't name this one. But "no exchange deposit" wasn't the end of the story.
12,267 BTC left a government address at 13:33 UTC. Two new addresses got tiny test deposits first, then the coins in chunks. By 14:47 UTC a custodian had swept all of it, mixed with other clients' deposits; most landed in a hot wallet that has handled 26.1M BTC. 74 minutes, start to finish.
The bigger pile hasn't moved: the 94,643 BTC seized in 2022 still sit in their original wallet, not one satoshi spent.
A custodian is not a sale, and our own labels can't name this one. But "no exchange deposit" wasn't the end of the story.