Bitcoin Sales in Germany A Current Report
Bitcoin (BTC) recently plummeted to a four-month low, shedding over 25% from its record high of $73,135 on March 13, wiping out billions and triggering a broader decline in the cryptocurrency market.
At present, BTC is trading at $55,291, having dropped by 3.06% in the last 24 hours, compounding losses of 10.11% over the previous week.
Since hitting its peak of $1.4 trillion on March 13, the leading digital asset has seen its market cap shrink by $350 billion, according to the latest data compiled by Finbold from CoinMarketCap.
The downward trajectory has been fueled by a surge in sales volume and the recent reimbursement efforts of the bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox, which has reportedly started repaying investors nearly $9 billion in Bitcoin owed to its creditors.
To date, only $84.9 million has been disbursed to Bitbank for repayment, leaving the rest of the creditors waiting for up to three months for reimbursement.
Furthermore, the German government, one of the largest state holders of Bitcoin, has apparently initiated a selling spree, intensifying the selling pressure even more.
The German government acquired BTC after the Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) confiscated nearly 50,000 Bitcoins, valued at around $10 million at the time, linked to the former operator of the film piracy website Movie2K in 2013.
The selling spree commenced on June 26, with the German government transferring 750 BTC worth $46.3 million to cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase, Bitsamp, and Kraken, according to cryptocurrency trade tracker Lookonchain.
On July 1, the German government decided to sell an additional 1,500 BTC worth $94.7 million. This was followed by the sale of 832.7 BTC on July 2, valued at $52 million.
Subsequently, on July 4, 3,000 Bitcoins were sold for a profit of $174 million.
As of now, the most recent sale on July 5 involved 543 Bitcoins, generating a profit of $30 million.
Over the past ten days, a total of 6,625 Bitcoins have been sold, resulting in a profit of $397 million. This leaves the German government with 39,816 Bitcoins in its reserves, valued at $2.2 billion.
Finbold had initially warned about the possibility of the German government offloading its seized Bitcoin holdings on June 21, after moving over 1,700 BTC worth $108 million at the time.
German MP Joana Cotar criticized the government’s decision to sell a significant portion of its Bitcoin holdings, contrasting it with discussions in the U.S. regarding Bitcoin as a strategic reserve currency.
The narrative that the recent sale of Bitcoin by the German government caused the market crash may be inaccurate, as a substantial portion of the coins sent to exchanges were returned to the same wallets, suggesting a change in strategy based on market conditions.
This indicates that the German government may have reconsidered its decision to sell Bitcoin at the current time.