US shifts 98,590 seized LINK to Coinbase Prime

On Wednesday, a U.S. government wallet moved 98,590 Chainlink (LINK) tokens – about $768,000 at current prices – into a Coinbase Prime custody account. Blockchain trackers detected the deposit minutes after the transfer. On-chain records do not indicate whether the assets will be sold on the open market.

The tokens come from assets seized after the collapse of FTX and Alameda Research in November 2022. A federal judge ordered Sam Bankman-Fried to forfeit $11 billion after his conviction. Recovered crypto is being used for victim compensation and to repay creditors, and the FTX estate issued a fourth creditor distribution of $2.2 billion in March 2026.

The U.S. Marshals Service designated Coinbase Prime in July 2024 to custody and trade its large-cap digital assets. The agency has managed seized crypto sales since a 2014 auction of Silk Road bitcoins. Deposits to custody platforms have previously been followed by internal custody changes, over-the-counter transactions, or planned sales; agencies have conducted structured sales rather than large, sudden dumps on public exchanges.

At the time of the transfer, Chainlink traded near $7.66 and its market capitalization was about $5.6 billion. The 98,590 LINK equals under 0.4% of an estimated $225 million in daily trading volume and about 0.01% of 727 million tokens in circulation.

LINK has fallen about 27% over the past 30 days and roughly 49% over the past year. Some market participants point to potential institutional demand, including flows into exchange-traded funds, as a factor that could absorb modest amounts of additional supply.

It is not yet clear whether the deposited tokens will be moved to an over-the-counter desk, remain in custody, or be prepared for a structured sale. Observers say the wallet’s next transactions should indicate how the assets will be handled.