U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis on Tuesday pushed back against reports that the U.S. Department of Justice may have moved to sell Bitcoin, which some lawmakers had hoped would be held as national assets.
According to on-chain tracking and multiple news outlets, approximately 57.55 BTC (approximately $6.3 million) was transferred to the Coinbase Prime account, after which the receiving wallet showed a zero balance, likely indicating that the coins were liquidated.
Senator Lummis sounds the alarm
Based on the report, Sen. Cynthia Lummis said she was “deeply concerned” that the move contradicts a previously issued presidential directive.
Executive Order 14233, signed in March 2025, establishes a plan to create a U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve and calls for holding seized Bitcoins without selling them.
Lummis, who chairs the Senate Digital Assets Subcommittee, questioned why the seized coins were moved to an exchange custodial account instead of being placed in a reserve.
Why is the US government still liquidating Bitcoin? @POTUS Did we explicitly direct these assets to be stored in strategic Bitcoin reserves? We cannot afford to squander these strategic assets while other countries accumulate Bitcoin. I am very concerned about this report. https://t.co/XW5WxsfliA
— Sen. Cynthia Lummis (@SenLummis) January 6, 2026
Move on-chain to point of sale
Blockchain analysts flagged the move after addresses associated with the seizure were tracked to Coinbase Prime. According to the report, the Coinbase address ended up with a zero balance shortly after the transfer, which many observers read as an on-chain signal that the asset had been sold.
The transfer included digital assets seized from defendants in connection with recent criminal cases, and the U.S. Marshals Service executed a coin transfer order from the Department of Justice, according to the report.
Market reaction and numbers
There was a small market reaction when the sale was announced. Bitcoin’s price fell slightly from around $94,760 at one point to nearly $93,600, according to a price snapshot cited by the news site.
Although the aforementioned number of BTC is a small fraction of the total circulating supply, this transaction attracted attention due to the policy issues raised and the political context of the National Reserve Plan.
Questions about insurance policies and reserves
Lawmakers and crypto policy watchers are now demanding more clarity on when and how seized cryptocurrencies will be converted into cash. The report asks the Department of Justice to explain its decision-making and clarify whether current executive guidance requires it to hold seized bitcoins in strategic reserves.
Sen. Lummis is pushing for formal regulations and legislation to prevent similar sales in the future.
So far, public statements from the Justice Department and the U.S. Marshals Service have been limited to public records, but Lummis and other reservist supporters have called for transparency.
Based on media reports, some legal experts argue that the government has discretion regarding confiscated property, while others argue that a new executive order should restructure the practice.
Featured images from Pexels, charts from TradingView
