German authorities have transferred an additional 282.74 BTC, valued at $17.6 million, to cryptocurrency exchanges Coinbase, Bitstamp, and Kraken, sparking speculation of a possible sell-off. This development follows a series of Bitcoin transfers from addresses associated with the German government, monitored by on-chain analytics provider Arkham.
Government’s Ongoing Bitcoin Transfers
The latest transactions are part of a broader movement of Bitcoin by the German government, which has been actively transferring its substantial Bitcoin holdings in recent weeks. The country’s Bitcoin reserves, estimated to be worth around $3 billion, were seized from the piracy website Movie2k.to. In January, German police confiscated 50,000 BTC from the site, marking the largest Bitcoin seizure by law enforcement in the country to date.
Details of the Recent Transfers
On July 2 at approximately 8:20 a.m. UTC, the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) transferred 100 BTC ($6.2 million) to Coinbase, 150 BTC ($9.4 million) to Bitstamp, and 32.74 BTC ($2 million) to Kraken. Additionally, 550 BTC ($34.3 million) were sent to an unidentified address labeled “139Po,” which Arkham suspects may also belong to an exchange.
In total, the German government has transferred about $193 million worth of seized Bitcoin to known exchange addresses and an additional $251 million to the “139Po” address. This follows previous transfers, including 200 BTC ($12.6 million) to Bitstamp, 100 BTC ($6.3 million) to Coinbase, and 100 BTC ($6.3 million) to Kraken on July 1, along with 1,100 BTC ($69.4 million) to the “139Po” address.
Speculation of Sales and Market Impact
On June 26, the German government sent 345.34 BTC ($21.2 million) to market maker Flow Traders, leading to speculation that the Bitcoin might have been sold through the firm. However, the government received back 475 BTC ($29.2 million) from addresses associated with Kraken, Bitstamp, and Coinbase on June 27. Prior to this, it had received 310 BTC ($20.1 million) from Kraken on June 20 and an additional 90 BTC ($5.5 million) from wallets linked to Robinhood, Bitstamp, and Coinbase.
Currently, the German government holds approximately 43,859 BTC, valued at around $2.7 billion, making it one of the largest known nation-state holders of Bitcoin, following the United States, China, and the UK.
Bitcoin Market Response
Bitcoin is currently trading at around $62,739, remaining largely flat over the past day. Despite recovering from last week’s low of under $60,000, Bitcoin’s price is still significantly below its early June high of over $71,000. Analysts from QCP Capital suggest that both Bitcoin and Ether typically perform well in July due to positive seasonality. “Looking at seasonality, BTC has a median return of 9.6% in July and tends to bounce back strongly, especially after a negative June (-9.85%),” they wrote in a recent note.
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