Blogs & Articles: German Government Transfers Additional Bitcoin to Exchanges 🔗 10 weeks ago

The German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) transferred an additional 1,500 Bitcoin, valued at nearly $95 million, to various Bitcoin and crypto exchanges, including Bitstamp, Coinbase, and Kraken, on July 1st.

Since June 19th, the German government has moved Bitcoin worth approximately $220 million to different exchanges, according to data from Arkham.

These Bitcoin were initially seized in 2013. The BKA confiscated nearly 50,000 Bitcoin, then valued at over $2 billion, from the operators of Movie2k.to, a film piracy site.

These recent transactions suggest that German authorities may be liquidating some of their Bitcoin holdings.

This action is similar to recent moves by the U.S. government, which also transferred large amounts of Bitcoin to exchanges, potentially indicating plans to sell. 

Both cases have led to speculation within the Bitcoin community about the possible impact on Bitcoin's market price.

Despite these transactions, most of the seized Bitcoin remains under German government control. 

Nearly 44,692 Bitcoin, worth approximately $2.82 billion, are still held in government wallets. Thus, the recent transfers represent a small fraction of their total holdings.

The Bitcoin market's reaction to these government-initiated transactions remains to be seen.