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On January 5, several cryptocurrency publications reported that the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), through the United States Marshals Service (USMS), sold approximately 57.55 BTC seized from the founders of Samourai Wallet, Keon Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill.
The original news argued that such a sale would violate Executive Order 14233 of President Donald Trump. The order directs federal agencies. To keep the confiscated bitcoins as part of the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
However, a review of the publicly available data on the chain shows that while Bitcoin was transferred into the custody of Coinbase Prime, the blockchain does not prove that Bitcoin was sold.
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Understand string data
On November 3, 2025, approximately 57,553 Bitcoins were transferred from the bech32 address associated with the Samurai seizure to a wallet called Coinbase Prime Deposit (3Lz5U).
Soon after, the funds were transferred from the 3Lz5U address to another wallet called Coinbase Prime Deposit (1AaFQ).
Such scans are This is standard operating behavior on Coinbase Prime and does not simply indicate a sale.
Additional analysis on the chain shows that Bitcoin has been integrated into the wider Coinbase Prime pool, which includes thousands of addresses used for holding, settlement and internal accounting.
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The blockchain does not show at any time Bitcoin leaving the infrastructure controlled by Coinbase.
There is no on-chain proof of Bitcoin sales by the Department of Justice
Blockchain No It provides proof that Bitcoin has been liquidated. There is no indication in the chain that the funds:
- Move to a non-Coinbase entity,
- Divided into several typical outputs to execute trades,
- Flow in known exchange settlement portfolios, or
- Distributed in a consistent pattern with a complete sale.
Having a zero balance in the original Coinbase Prime deposit address does not mean liquidation. It just indicates that the address has been cleaned, which is common in sandboxes.
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Bitcoin to USD is converted on Coinbase Prime off-chain.
Therefore, the blockchain cannot prove if it was a sale, if the proceeds were transferred to the USMS, or if the bitcoin was held in custody.
Did the Justice Department Violate Trump’s Executive Order on Bitcoin Reserves?
Executive Order No. 14233 restricts the sale of “Bitcoin Government“Held in the US Strategic Bitcoin Reserve.
Let it be Bitcoin gifted by a samurai Whether it has been officially transferred to treasury reserve accounts is something that cannot be determined from blockchain data alone.
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Confirming an order violation requires the following:
- Confiscation or disposal orders issued by the court,
- the USMS estate management records, or
- Execution and settlement documents in Coinbase Prime.
None of these records appear on the chain.
Transferred Samurai Bitcoin Wallet Confirmed to the custody of Coinbase Prime and integrated into the infrastructure controlled by Coinbase.
In general, the blockchain does not confirm that Bitcoin has been sold.
This does not exclude the possibility of liquidation. This means that without off-chain documentation or court-cleared records, confirmed sales claims go beyond what on-chain data can support.
Currently, the question of whether the Department of Justice complied with Executive Order 14233 remains a documentation and governance issue.
