Allegations that roughly $40 million was siphoned from US government-linked seizure wallets are putting new pressure on Washington’s plan to treat seized bitcoin as a long-term reserve asset.
What’s being alleged
Blockchain investigator ZachXBT alleged over the weekend that more than $40 million in assets moved out of wallets tied to US seizure operations.
He linked the activity to John Daghita, also known as “Licks,” and said the trail emerged after a Telegram dispute where a person identified as “Lick” screen-shared an Exodus wallet and moved large sums in real time.
ZachXBT said the addresses connect to more than $90 million in suspected illicit flows, including about $24.9 million that moved from a US-controlled wallet in March 2024.
Why it matters for a $28B bitcoin stockpile
The reported loss is small compared with the roughly $28 billion in bitcoin the US is widely believed to control, but it challenges the credibility of a “digital Fort Knox” posture.
If custody controls can be bypassed through contractor access or insider risk, the concern becomes process reliability across the full custody chain rather than a one-off incident.
This comes after a prior federal custody scare in October 2024, when a wallet linked to Bitfinex hack proceeds was drained for about $20 million, with most funds later recovered.
Contractor and custody fragmentation risk
A March 2025 GAO decision confirmed the US Marshals Service awarded Command Services & Support (CMDSS) a contract to manage “Class 2–4 cryptocurrencies,” which the GAO described as less popular assets requiring specialized handling.
The White House has directed Treasury to administer custodial accounts where bitcoin “shall not be sold,” shifting the government’s role from auctioning seized coins to holding them.
Crypto analyst Murtuza Merchant said:
“If criminals believe seized funds can be siphoned from government wallets, they may treat forfeiture as a temporary inconvenience, not an endpoint, especially if laundering routes exist through exchanges and cross-chain hops.”
