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German authorities appear to be offloading more Bitcoin, according to on-chain analysis, after previously dumping about $170 million worth of the cryptocurrency in the past week.
The country’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) transferred 400 BTC, worth about $25 million, to cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase and Kraken on Tuesday. Another 500 BTC (over $30 million worth) was moved to an unknown address, according to blockchain monitoring service Arkham.
The selloffs came as the crypto market continued a bearish run, with BTC priced at about $61,700 at the time of writing. It plunged on Monday, falling below the $60,000 mark multiple times before ticking back upward.
In March, Bitcoin spiked to an all-time high of $73,797 before pulling back. But then it slumped to $56,527 in May before rallying to above $64,000.
This is in addition to $130M BTC sent to exchanges on 19th June and $65M BTC sent on 20th June, although they received $20.1M back from Kraken and $5.5M from wallets linked to Robinhood, Bitstamp and Coinbase.
Currently, the German Government holds 46,359 BTC, worth $2.8B at…
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) June 25, 2024
Last week, the German government sold off a substantial portion of its seized Bitcoin. Arkham says about $170 million worth of Bitcoin had been sent to exchanges prior to the latest batch of transfers, when factoring in funds that were then sent back to the wallet from exchanges.
“Currently, the German Government holds 46,359 BTC, worth $2.8 billion at current prices,” Arkham said on Twitter.
The sold Bitcoin was among the assets confiscated from the movie piracy website, Movie2k.to. German police seized 50,000 BTC from the piracy website in January, described as the “most extensive security of Bitcoins by law enforcement authorities in the Federal Republic of Germany to date.”
The large-scale liquidation by the German authorities, combined with large outflows from spot Bitcoin ETFs and other factors, contributed to the ongoing price declines in the crypto market.
Bitrue’s Chief Strategy Officer Robert Quartly-Janeiro suggested to Decrypt last week that German authorities might continue to sell Bitcoin having “taken a view that the price of BTC is to soften for a while to come.”
The cryptocurrency market has experienced heightened volatility, with liquidations topping $300 million on Monday. Bitcoin accounted for roughly half of these liquidations, around $150 million, while Ethereum (ETH) saw $66 million in liquidations.
These recent market movements have primarily affected long positions, leading to forced closures and further price pressure. The potential for further sales by the German government adds another layer of uncertainty to the market.
Edited by Andrew Hayward
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Source: https://decrypt.co/236936/germany-selling-bitcoin-dumping-170-million-arkham
