Bitcoin bulls may have reason to cheer as the German government is nearing the end of its multi-billion dollar Bitcoin selling spree. Germany has reduced its Bitcoin holdings to less than $300 million as of Wednesday amid an apparent selloff that has drastically accelerated recently.
How Much Bitcoin The German Government Holds
After weeks of dumping Bitcoin and the resulting massive supply overhang, the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) is about to run out of BTC to sell.
The German State of Saxony started selling Bitcoin in the second half of June and has since liquidated 45,075 BTC, roiling the crypto market. The premier cryptocurrency has plummeted over 15% over the last four weeks, with prices even hitting a low of $53,500 sometime last week.
According to data from Arkham Intelligence, the German government currently holds 4,925 BTC, valued at $285.53 million—compared to 49,860 BTC just last month. At the current pace, Germany’s Bitcoin market dumping spree could end as soon as Friday or early next week.
UPDATE: The German Government is running out of Bitcoin.The German Government just sent another 5000 BTC ($286.44M) to Flow Traders, Coinbase, Kraken, Bitstamp, 139Po and bc1qu.Today, they have transferred 10627 BTC ($615.33M) in total to market makers and exchanges.They… https://t.co/vXtHwzUieK pic.twitter.com/4bOI56BJgN
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) July 11, 2024
This sharp decline in Bitcoin holdings is a part of the German government’s strategy to unload a substantial portion of its haul seized from a privacy website. The government has moved over $2 billion worth to exchanges and market makers within the last week alone.
Merely transferring Bitcoin from its wallets to exchanges doesn’t necessarily mean the funds were eventually liquidated. The German government entity has, at times, received millions worth of assets back from various exchanges and brokers.
Nonetheless, the looming end of the state’s selling spree could ease crypto investors’ fears. Over the past several weeks, they have been engrossed in the on-chain movements of large potential sellers on the market.
“One Of The Biggest Geopolitical Blunders”
Some crypto commentators believe Germany is missing out on potential future gains by selling its Bitcoin stash now.
“In a few years, this will be looked back on as one of the biggest geopolitical blunders of all time,” Capriole Investments founder Charles Edwards recently said in a post on X (aka Twitter). “It will be studied in universities.”
German’s sales coincided with the U.S. government, which holds more than $12 billion in confiscated Bitcoin, transferred $241 million worth of Silk Road-linked BTC to Coinbase, and the bankruptcy estate of the now-defunct Japanese exchange Mt. Gox commencing repayments of 140,000 BTC to creditors.