bitcoin (btc) and the crypto market in general are at risk of suffering a further downtrend following a recent event involving The governments of the United States and Germany. On-chain data suggests that both governments are looking to offload a substantial amount of their btc holdings.
US Government Sends $240 Million in bitcoin to Coinbase Prime
On-chain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence revealed in an x (formerly twitter) x.com/ArkhamIntel/status/1806012299494273149″ rel=”nofollow” target=”_blank”>mail that he United States Government had sent 3,940 btc ($240 million) to Coinbase Prime. This has raised fears that the government may be trying to get rid of these crypto tokens, which would put more selling pressure on the flagship cryptocurrency.
Arkham also revealed that this btc was part of the drug dealer's seizure. Banmeet Singh following his trial earlier this year. Interestingly, Singh is known to have sold drugs through the Silk Road marketplace, a dark web platform from which the US government is known to have seized a substantial amount of bitcoin.
In the past, the US government divested some btc from the Silk Road, which also created significant selling pressure for the flagship cryptocurrency. Their last confirmed sale occurred in March, when they downloaded 9,861 btc ($216 million). They have yet to confirm the sale of the 3,940 btc moved to Coinbase, suggesting it has not yet been sold.
Meanwhile, the US government is not the only one seeking to dump the market. Data from Arkham Intelligence shows that the german government recently transferred 125 btc ($7.71 million) each to crypto exchanges Kraken and Bitstamp. This follows his recent transfer of 400 btc ($24 million) to Kraken and Coinbase. Meanwhile, the German government also moved 1,000 btc to an unknown address (139Po), which could be another crypto exchange.
The possible sale of bitcoin by the US and German governments is more concerning, considering that bitcoin is already facing massive selling pressure. Bitcoinist recently reported that btc miners have sold 30,000 btc ($2 billion) this month alone, which has largely contributed to the cryptocurrency's massive drop since the month began.
Another government decides to maintain
As the US and governments continue to dump their bitcoin holdings, another government, The SaviorInstead, it has chosen to continue accumulating the flagship cryptocurrency. It is known that El Salvador adopted bitcoin as legal tender since September 2021 and started a '1 bitcoin per day program' in November 2022, whereby they purchase 1 btc every day.
Data from Arkham Intelligence shows that they have stuck to this policy and currently own 5,794 btc ($351.82 million). El Salvador has also continued to accumulate through foreign investments and its mining operations. Bitcoinist recently reported the government plans to create a bitcoin bank to attract foreign investors with frictionless bitcoin investments.
Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com