New analysis reveals that the U.S. Government holds a significant amount of Zcash ($ZEC ).

The U.S. government appears to be holding a stash of Zcash — the privacy-focused digital asset — according to new analysis from Arkham Intelligence. The position, valued at roughly 1.5 million USD, traces back to funds seized during the 2017 takedown of the dark-web marketplace AlphaBay. Arkham says it followed transaction flows and linked the ZEC to wallets controlled by U.S. authorities through activity associated with the DOJ’s AlphaBay investigation.

While the government has not commented, the holding is tiny compared to its massive crypto reserves, which include nearly 30 billion USD in Bitcoin and 187 million USD in Ethereum from various enforcement actions. Still, the idea of regulators holding a privacy coin adds irony at a time when agencies are increasingly focused on illicit finance risks.

The topic will surface on December 15, when Zcash founder Zooko Wilcox, Aleo CEO Alex Pruden, and SpruceID founder Wayne Chang join a four-hour SEC roundtable on modern cryptographic privacy tools.