The US government’s Bitcoin pile is a little lighter this year. Government holdings have reportedly fallen by approximately 1,635 BTC in 2026, leaving an estimated 328,372 BTC on the books as of early October, according to tracking from sources including BitcoinTreasuries.
Where the coins are, and where some of them went
The estimated balance stands at 328,372 BTC. Tracked holdings as of October 7, 2026, ranged from 319,000 to 328,000 BTC depending on the tracker, a spread that reflects a decline over the course of the year.
Why the range? Government wallets are not labeled with a tidy nameplate. Different trackers attribute different addresses to federal agencies, so the final tally depends on who is counting.
The more eye-catching activity came in the first week of October. Wallets connected to the US government moved around 17,733 BTC, with the transfers primarily flowing to Coinbase Prime, the exchange’s institutional custody and trading arm.
No sales have been confirmed. The activity is consistent with custody consolidation, which means moving coins between storage arrangements rather than dumping them on the open market.
A treasury built from crime scenes
None of these coins were bought. The government’s entire Bitcoin position comes from law enforcement seizures and forfeitures. Two cases account for the bulk of it. Roughly 94,643 BTC traces back to the 2016 Bitfinex hack, and about 127,271 BTC comes from Silk Road recoveries.
Executive Order 14233, signed in March 2025, created the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and prohibited sales of seized assets. The order was designed to stop the long-standing practice of auctioning off forfeited Bitcoin.
The valuation rollercoaster
Based on a prevailing Bitcoin price of $82,000 to $83,000, early October estimates put the total value of the government’s holdings between $26 billion and $28 billion.
The valuation of US government crypto holdings has declined by approximately $16 billion from a peak near $40.7 billion in late October 2025. The bigger driver is price movement on every remaining coin, not coins leaving wallets.
What this means for the market
With sales of seized assets prohibited under Executive Order 14233, large transfers to Coinbase Prime look more like a reorganization of custody than a liquidation pipeline, which could mean less supply overhang from forfeited coins than markets historically worried about.
Holdings have reportedly declined by approximately 1,635 BTC this year despite the prohibition on sales. The source data does not specify why. Possible explanations range from court-ordered returns to victims to wallet attribution changes by trackers, but none has been confirmed. The difference between tracker estimates (319,000 versus 328,000 BTC) is far larger than the reported decline itself.
Key things to watch from here: whether further large transfers to Coinbase Prime follow the October activity, whether any official accounting clarifies the 1,635 BTC decline, and how the reserve’s dollar value tracks Bitcoin’s price. At $82,000 to $83,000 per coin, the reserve sits well below its late-2025 peak.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Vivian Nguyen. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.