FBI-Linked Bitcoin Wallets Hold $1.40B as Strangers Send Pitches

People have sent 77 small Bitcoin (BTC) transfers and 59 on-chain messages to 19 addresses the FBI linked to a Binance theft, while the Bitcoin originally held there remains in place.

The addresses held 18,270.2 BTC, worth about $1.40 billion at $76,748 per BTC at 12:14 a.m. ET (5:14 a.m. UTC) on Nov. 3. None of the BTC has moved out of the wallets.

Messages included requests for financial help, promotions for the $NST token ecosystem and a CRC-20 Bitcoin lending protocol, and appeals urging the wallet holders not to return the funds to Binance. One sender made three rounds of requests: first to 18 addresses, then to 19 addresses in each of two later rounds. The sender spent about $45 in BTC, or roughly $49 including fees.

Bitcoin’s OP_RETURN feature lets a sender attach text to a transaction, making it publicly visible on the blockchain. The recipient does not need to approve a message, but a small BTC transfer is needed for it to appear in an address’s transaction history.

The FBI listed the 19 addresses in an Oct. 31 warning that attributed the theft of more than $6 billion from Binance to North Korea’s TraderTraitor group. The bureau urged crypto firms to block transactions involving the listed addresses or addresses derived from them. The warning was part of the broader U.S. agency response to the Binance hack.

Funds tied to the theft also moved through an FBI-listed Solana (SOL) address. Relay said Nov. 2 that it was working with Binance and law enforcement to block the funds from moving through its service, warning that some transactions or routes could be paused or delayed. The address sent about 14,000 SOL at 8:37 p.m. ET on Nov. 2 (1:37 a.m. UTC Nov. 3). A balance check at 8:50 p.m. ET (1:50 a.m. UTC Nov. 3) showed roughly 399,000 SOL remaining, worth about $36.9 million at $92.50 per token; about 59% of the tracked amount had moved.