The German government continues to actively liquidate portions of its significant bitcoin (btc) holdings, transferring significant sums to various cryptocurrency exchanges and wallets, according to data from Arkham Intelligence. This wave of transfers includes the recent movement of $24 million worth of bitcoin, underscoring a broader strategy that may be influencing current bitcoin market dynamics.
German government moves forward with bitcoin liquidation strategy
On June 25, the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), which operated a government-labeled cryptocurrency wallet, moved 900 btc in three separate transactions. Two of these transactions, each involving 200 btc, were sent to prominent exchanges Coinbase and Kraken. Additionally, a transfer larger than 500 btc was directed to an address labeled “139Po,” a wallet whose activities and ownership remain unclear, despite previous interactions with the German government wallet.
“UPDATE: The German government sells an additional $24 million of btc. In the last 2 hours, the German government moved 400 btc to exchange deposits on Kraken and Coinbase. They also moved 500 btc to address 139Po. We have yet to see where these funds move,” Arkham Intel x.com/ArkhamIntel/status/1805542881454633282″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>reported through x.
These transactions are part of a broader pattern of bitcoin sales by the government, which had previously transferred $130 million of btc on June 19 and $65 million of btc on June 20. In the June 19 and 20 trades, some funds returned from Kraken and smaller amounts from wallets associated with Robinhood, Bitstamp, and Coinbase. Initially, the wallet accumulated almost 50,000 btc, seized from the operator of the pirate movie website Movie2k.
“This is in addition to the $130 million of btc sent to exchanges on June 19 and the $65 million of btc sent on June 20, although they received $20.1 million from Kraken and $5.5 million from dollars from wallets linked to Robinhood, Bitstamp and Coinbase. “Currently, the German government holds 46,359 btc, worth $2.8 billion at current prices,” Arkham added.
The current sell-off appears to have contributed to recent price pressures on bitcoin, which has seen a drop of 11.7% over the past month and more than 6.2% weekly, currently trading just above $61,000. Analysts suggest that the German government's actions on centralized exchanges (CEX) are a notable factor behind btc's weak performance.
Looking ahead, the market slowdown could be further exacerbated in July as defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox plans to begin paying its creditors. With over 140,000 btc worth $9.4 billion held by approximately 127,000 creditors, the market could face additional selling pressure, which could drive prices down further. However, as Galaxy Digital head of research Alex Thorn suggests, the market could vastly overestimate the selling pressure.
At the time of publication, btc was trading at $61,159.
