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The United States government sent 3,940 Bitcoin to a Coinbase Prime wallet on June 26, onchain data from Arkham Intelligence revealed.
According to Arkham Intelligence, the transaction took place at 5:00 pm UTC and involved Bitcoin (<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/bitcoin-price" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">BTC</a>) seized from convicted drug trafficker Banmeet Singh earlier in 2024.
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 The transaction data from the 3,940 Bitcoin transfer to Coinbase. Source: Arkham Intelligence
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<h2 id="the-case-of-banmeet-singh">The case of Banmeet Singh</h2>
In 2019, Singh was arrested by British authorities in London on drug distribution charges and eventually extradited to the United States in 2023.
The United States Department of Justice&nbsp;<a href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdoh/pr/defendant-pleads-guilty-dark-web-narcotics-case-involving-largest-cryptocurrency" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">claimed</a> that from 2012 to 2017, Singh ran a narcotics smuggling network that included distributors in Maryland, New York, North Dakota, Washington state, Ohio, North Carolina and Florida.
Related:<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-price-4-week-correction-mt-gox-germany-sell-btc" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow"> 4-week correction for Bitcoin? Mt. Gox, Germany gov't add sell-pressure</a>.
As part of the judgment against him, Singh was forced to surrender more than 8,100 Bitcoin, valued at around $150 million at the time, to U.S. authorities in what the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) characterized as the largest cryptocurrency seizure ever performed by the three-letter agency.
Singh was also sentenced to five years in prison in April 2024 but was given credit for time served and has reportedly been released by U.S. authorities. According to The Columbus Dispatch, Singh made plans to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/courts/2024/04/20/banmeet-singh-international-drug-lord-columbus-ohio-bitcoin-crypto/73385629007/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">return</a> to his native India directly following his release.
<h3 id="widespread-fears-of-government-sell-off">Widespread fears of government sell-off&nbsp;</h3>
Fears of government sell-offs impacting the Bitcoin market have gripped market participants in recent weeks after reports that the German government was&nbsp;<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/german-gov-sells-900-bitcoin-400-btc-coinbase-kraken" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">unloading its Bitcoin</a>&nbsp;worth roughly $2.76 billion at the time of writing.
The most recent&nbsp;&nbsp;<a href="https://platform.arkhamintelligence.com/explorer/tx/28a4e98a0d475f6bdddb5738d56d3e12b6455a9aa0c467bca138412a7266392d" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">transaction</a>&nbsp;occurred on June 26, at 9:27 am UTC, with 345 Bitcoin sent to a wallet labeled “Flow Traders.”
The United States government also holds large quantities of Bitcoin acquired through seizures and asset forfeiture.&nbsp;<a href="https://platform.arkhamintelligence.com/explorer/entity/usg" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">Data</a> from Arkham shows that the U.S. government currently owns roughly 214,000 Bitcoin valued at around $13 billion at the time of writing, making the U.S. government the&nbsp;<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/us-government-largest-bitcoin-holdings-arkham" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">largest state holder</a> of the decentralized currency in the Arkham Intel database.
Selling pressure from the Mt. Gox bankruptcy estate has also stoked investor fears of a Bitcoin price decline as the former exchange begins the process of&nbsp;<a href="https://cointelegraph.com/news/bitcoin-exchange-balances-140k-btc-mt-gox-payout" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">unloading 140,000 Bitcoin</a> to reimburse injured parties of the infamous 2014 Mt. Gox collapse. However, exchange balances are at six-year lows, acting as a price-stabilizing counterbalance to these selling pressures.
Magazine: <a href="https://cointelegraph.com/magazine/crypto-substance-abuse-traders-trading/" rel="noopener noreferrer nofollow">This is your brain on crypto: Substance abuse grows among crypto traders</a>.

US gov’t sends 3,940 Bitcoin to Coinbase exchange

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