Germany has divested all of its Bitcoin holdings, according to Arkham Intelligence, winding up a process that took several weeks and helped drive an increase in supply that pulled down prices of the biggest cryptocurrency.
In January, Germany’s central criminal investigation agency seized 50,000 Bitcoin valued at about $2.8 billion at today’s prices from Movie2k.to, a film piracy website found guilty of money laundering and other illegal activities, DL News reported.
Since the German government started selling its Bitcoin on June 19, the cryptocurrency has struggled to recover, dipping under $55,000 earlier this month.
Another issue weighing on the market has been the distribution of Bitcoin from Mt. Gox, the Japanese crypto exchange that was hacked in 2014.
Last week, the entity in charge of payments began returning some of the more than 140,000 Bitcoin, worth about $8 billion, to victims.
Many recipients are expected to cash out.
Germany isn’t the only country that has confiscated Bitcoin.
The US government holds more than $13 billion in seized Bitcoin, while the UK holds about $3.6 billion.
Crypto market movers
Bitcoin is up 1.56% today at $58,026.30.
Ethereum is up 1.46% today at $3,132.21.
What we are reading
Bitcoin ETFs See Best Weekly Inflows Since May After Price Swoon — Bloomberg
Crypto becomes 2024 battleground issue as Biden, Trump vie for support — The Street
Crypto lobby’s bet on Trump is a mistake, says Arthur Hayes — DL News
