Germany Liquidates Over 90% Of Bitcoin Holdings, Retains Only $284 Million

After a month-long period of increased selling pressure, the German government has nearly exhausted its Bitcoin treasury, selling over 90% of its BTC seized in January in the country’s largest Bitcoin seizure, worth over $2.1 billion. 

With less than $300 million worth of BTC remaining, this signals the end of a significant sell-off period, with expectations of further price appreciation for the largest cryptocurrency on the market.

On-chain data from market intelligence firm Arkham reveals the German government’s selling activity on Thursday, showing that the German police wallet initially sold 2,375 BTC ($137.87 million) to exchanges including Kraken, Bitstamp, and Coinbase.

Subsequently, an additional 3,250 BTC ($191.02 million) was sent to exchanges for selling purposes and over-the-counter (OTC) deals, according to the data. 

The German government recently transferred 5,000 BTC ($286.44 million) to Flow Traders, Coinbase, Kraken, Bitstamp, 139Po and bc1qu. They have now transferred 10,627 BTC ($615.33 million) to market makers and exchanges on Thursday alone.

With only 4,925 BTC remaining, Arkham data shows that the German government currently holds 9.9% of the original 50,000 BTC seized from Movie2k in January, worth just over $284 million at the current BTC price of $57,000. 

Movie2k, a movie streaming website, was found guilty of money laundering and other illegal activities by the state of Saxony in Germany. 

Our sister site Bitcoinist reported on Wednesday that Dr. Lennart Ante, co-founder of the German-based blockchain research lab, said the Saxon government is obligated to sell the confiscated bitcoin as per standard procedure, even though lawmakers such as Joana Cotar have urged the country’s legislative chamber to keep the seized BTC.

Nonetheless, Dr. Ante further clarified that the general prosecutor’s office of Saxony is responsible for liquidating the confiscated BTC assets as per “standard procedure.”

Currently trading above $57,400, the good news is that the BTC price has consolidated above this level for the past few days, signaling a sense of stability in the market ahead of a potential renewed bullish move higher to tackle key resistance levels.

This starkly contrasts last week’s price action, when Bitcoin saw violent price swings in both directions as selling pressure from the German government and uncertainty surrounding the payments from defunct exchange Mt. Gox flooded the market. 

In the short term, the Bitcoin price will have to face the $58,200 resistance wall, which has proven to be a hard nut to crack for the largest cryptocurrency on the market for the past 6 days, being unable to surpass this level to test the $60,200 obstacle subsequently. 

Ultimately, it remains to be seen when the German government will end its Bitcoin sell-off and deplete its entire Bitcoin treasury and how BTC’s price will react as the daily selling pressure experienced for the past month subsides. 

Featured image from DALL-E, chart from TradingView.com