Earlier today, a post on the X social media platform stirred up some buzz by alleging that the U.S. government had offloaded $75 million in Bitcoin.
Yet, Alex Thorn, who leads research at Galaxy Digital, clarified that this is nothing more than “fake news.”
Seized Assets
The analyst revealed that this transaction is actually connected to the U.S. government’s legal actions against Sergei Potapenko and Igor (Ivan) Turogin for their involvement in the HashFlare mining scam.
The two individuals from Estonia orchestrated a deceptive operation known as “HashFlare,” falsely advertised as a cryptocurrency mining service.
They sold “mining contracts” without possessing sufficient computing power to fulfill their commitments and instead presented fabricated returns to deceive investors.
This fraudulent activity allowed them to amass nearly $600 million, which they used for personal luxuries such as high-end cars and jewelry.
The scammers were eventually sentenced to 16 months behind bars, and assets worth $450 million—including cryptocurrencies, properties, and vehicles—were seized by authorities.
The U.S. government initiated legal proceedings in August to confiscate these assets officially.
Thorn notes that the recent wallet transfer follows a final forfeiture order; thus, these coins are now under governmental ownership rather than being sold off.