Germany Government Sells Thousands of Bitcoin
11 Jul, 2024 ● Crypto News
The wallet identified as German Government (BKA) on Arkham Intelligence has acquired an additional 6,000 Bitcoin valued at $354 million, preparing for the next phase of BTC sell-offs.
So far, 5,853.409 Bitcoin has been transferred to addresses linked to exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, Flow Traders, and other unidentified or unconfirmed addresses.
The process to offload approximately $342 million worth of BTC has commenced.
This distribution of the 6,000 BTC follows the outflow of 3,100 BTC worth $178 million on July 9.
Notably, the address also withdrew 1,700 BTC worth $91.78 million from Bitstamp, reclaiming its BTC holdings, which indicates a challenge in offloading them on the exchange.
As of July 9, the holdings were around 26,000 BTC, valued at approximately $1.5 billion, with a linked address holding 4,800 BTC for off-loading.
As of July 10, the wallet’s current holdings are about 18,110 BTC, now worth $1.06 billion, a decrease of over $400 million since July 9.
Dr. Lennart Ante, CEO of Blockchain Research Lab, told Cointelegraph that investigators from the federal state of Saxony seized the BTC funds.
Ante explained that the funds "are said to have originated from the illegal streaming portal" Movie2k and that one of the defendants "is said to have facilitated the voluntary transfer" of the funds.
Ante detailed the proceeds from the funds, stating:
“They go to the state budget of the Free State of Saxony. However, victims of the movie2k portal, i.e., filmmakers, could have a claim to parts of it. This will have to be decided by the courts.”
Despite the ongoing sell-off and the dumping of over $1 billion in BTC into the market so far, the price of BTC has risen back to highs of $58,000 after dipping to $53,900.
Ante suggested that the Saxon government’s sales strategy might not be the most efficient:
“Perhaps auctions or OTC deals would be more efficient. However, we can only speculate about this at present. If Bitcoin wants to live up to its role as a global financial asset and digital gold, the market must be able to withstand such events.”
Of the nearly 50,000 BTC seized by the Public Prosecutor General’s Office, only around 13,110 BTC worth $770 million remain.
This has resulted in the reported German government losing its BTC billionaire status.
The Code of Criminal Procedure (StPO) § 111p outlines the procedure and regulations for an emergency sale of confiscated or seized objects during criminal investigations in Germany.
It specifies that objects confiscated under § 111c or seized under § 111f can be sold if there is a risk of significant loss of value, threat of spoilage, or costs or difficulties associated with storage, maintenance, or upkeep.
The BTC sell-off by the reported German government address coincides with the Mt. Gox initiation of the long-awaited BTC and Bitcoin Cash (BCH) repayments to creditors.
Discussing market sentiment, Ante said that the current events "may be forgotten in a few months, and new events, such as the Mt. Gox payouts, may be the subject [of] debate.”
At the time of writing, BTC’s price is $58,545, and the total cryptocurrency market capitalization is $2.15 trillion, up 1.39% over the last 24 hours.
Sources:
https://cointelegraph.com/news/german-government-354m-btc-sell-off
