There are growing questions circulating online about whether the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) sold millions of dollars’ worth of bitcoin that it seized from the developers of Samourai Wallet. The concern is that doing so may have violated an executive order signed by President Donald Trump that says the government should not sell forfeited bitcoin.

The case involves about 57.55 BTC, worth roughly $5.3 million, taken from Samourai Wallet co-founders Keonne Rodriguez and William Lonergan Hill. The bitcoin was forfeited as part of a guilty plea in a federal court in New York. Reports say the bitcoin was transferred to Coinbase Prime, a platform used by large institutions to trade and store digital assets. What is still unclear is whether the bitcoin was actually sold.

At the center of the dispute is Executive Order 14233, signed by President Trump in March 2025. This order created the U.S. Strategic Bitcoin Reserve. It clearly states that bitcoin obtained by the government through seizures or forfeitures “shall not be sold” and must instead be held as a long-term reserve.

The order also says that government agencies “shall not sell or otherwise dispose of any Government Digital Assets” unless very specific exceptions apply. Legal experts and critics say none of those exceptions appear to apply to the Samourai Wallet case.

According to a document called an “Asset Liquidation Agreement,” Rodriguez and Hill agreed to transfer their bitcoin to the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS) on November 3, 2025. The agreement was signed by a federal prosecutor. That same day, blockchain data shows the bitcoin moving from a Samourai-related address to a wallet linked to Coinbase Prime.

Later, the Coinbase Prime wallet showed a zero balance. Some media outlets reported that this likely meant the bitcoin had been sold. If that is true, critics argue it would directly violate the executive order, which says “Government BTC deposited into the Strategic Bitcoin Reserve shall not be sold and shall be maintained as reserve assets of the United States.”

The case has also drawn attention to the Southern District of New York (SDNY), the federal office handling the prosecution. The SDNY is known for aggressive digital asset cases and very high conviction rates. Critics say it often acts independently, even when DOJ leadership signals a change in policy.

In April 2025, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche issued a memo titled “Ending Regulation By Prosecution,” saying the DOJ “will no longer target virtual currency exchanges, mixing and tumbling services, and offline wallets for the acts of their end users.” Despite this, the SDNY moved forward with the Samourai case and another high-profile prosecution involving Tornado Cash developer Roman Storm.

Supporters of the Samourai developers also point to internal Treasury discussions disclosed through a Brady request, in which senior officials reportedly “strongly suggested” that Samourai Wallet did not qualify as a money transmitter because it was noncustodial.

Prosecutors proceeded anyway. However, another analysis urges caution. It explains that blockchain data alone cannot prove a sale happened. Moving bitcoin into Coinbase Prime and later sweeping it into other Coinbase wallets is normal behavior for custody platforms. A zero balance does not automatically mean the bitcoin was sold.

It could simply mean that the funds were moved to Coinbase custody, a usual practice by government agencies and law enforcement that helps them custody the assets securely.

There is no evidence that the bitcoin has left Coinbase’s custody. What raises questions, however, is what happened after the funds were moved to a Coinbase Prime deposit address (1AaFQ42ekb7ot36iWhrG7zqp2XEZDcwCLG). From there, the bitcoin was transferred to an address labeled by Arkham as a “Coinbase Hot Wallet.”

Hot wallets are typically used to facilitate frequent deposits and withdrawals, rather than for long-term storage. The Coinbase hot wallet in question (3MqUP6G1daVS5YTD8fz3QgwjZortWwxXFd) now shows a zero balance. Due to the high volume of transactions associated with this address, tracing the bitcoin’s subsequent movements is extremely difficult.

Blockchain data does not confirm that the bitcoin was sold. It only shows that the funds moved internally within Coinbase’s system. As a result, it is not possible to determine whether any executive order was violated without an official statement from the Department of Justice, relevant court orders, U.S. Marshals Service asset records, or transaction documentation from Coinbase Prime. None of those records is currently public.