TLDR

  • The German government has sold 900 Bitcoin worth over $54 million in recent transactions.

  • Transfers were made to Coinbase, Kraken, and an unknown wallet labeled “139Po”.

  • The government still holds over 46,000 Bitcoin worth about $2.8 billion.

  • These sales could potentially put downward pressure on Bitcoin’s price.

  • The Bitcoin was originally seized from the operators of a piracy website called Movie2k.

The German government has begun selling large amounts of Bitcoin it seized from criminals, potentially affecting the cryptocurrency market.

Over the past week, wallets associated with German authorities have transferred hundreds of Bitcoin to major exchanges, likely to convert them into regular currency.

UPDATE: German Government selling additional $24M BTC

In the past 2 hours the German Government has moved 400 BTC to exchange deposits at Kraken and Coinbase.

They have also moved 500 BTC to address 139Po. We have yet to see where these funds are moved. pic.twitter.com/D6QCUv9Jgx

— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) June 25, 2024

On June 25, a wallet labeled as belonging to the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) sent 200 Bitcoin each to Coinbase and Kraken.

These transactions were worth about $24 million at the time. The same wallet also moved 500 Bitcoin, valued at over $30 million, to an unknown address called “139Po”.

This isn’t the first time the German government has moved large amounts of Bitcoin recently. On June 19, it transferred 1,500 Bitcoin (worth about $97 million) to Kraken, Bitstamp, and Coinbase.

The next day, it sent another 200 Bitcoin to Coinbase. In total, the German authorities have moved about 2,600 Bitcoin (around $158 million) in the past week.

The Bitcoin being sold comes from a large seizure made by German law enforcement. In January, the BKA received nearly 50,000 Bitcoin from the operators of Movie2k, a website that illegally shared pirated films. At the time, this Bitcoin was worth over $2 billion, making it the largest cryptocurrency seizure in German history.

Even after these recent sales, the German government still holds a significant amount of Bitcoin. According to blockchain analysis firm Arkham Intelligence, the wallet associated with the BKA contains about 46,359 Bitcoin, currently valued at approximately $2.8 billion.

The sale of such large amounts of Bitcoin by a government entity has raised concerns in the cryptocurrency community. Some worry that if too much Bitcoin is sold too quickly, it could push down the price of the digital currency. Bitcoin’s value has already dropped about 6% since the German government began moving funds to exchanges last week.

It’s worth noting that the amounts being sold are relatively small compared to the overall Bitcoin market. Each day, tens of billions of dollars worth of Bitcoin are traded worldwide. The $24 million sold on June 25, for example, is a tiny fraction of the $40 billion in Bitcoin traded that day.

The situation with the German government’s Bitcoin comes at an interesting time for the cryptocurrency market. In July, the defunct Bitcoin exchange Mt. Gox is set to start repaying its former users. Mt. Gox owes about $9.4 billion worth of Bitcoin to around 127,000 people who lost money when the exchange collapsed in 2014.

Germany isn’t the only government holding large amounts of Bitcoin. The United States government is believed to have the largest stash, with over 213,000 Bitcoin. China and the United Kingdom also hold significant amounts, with about 190,000 and 61,000 Bitcoin respectively.

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