A cryptocurrency wallet associated with the German government transferred over 3,000 Bitcoin, valued at more than $172 million, to various crypto exchanges and a separate wallet.
On July 4, blockchain investigator PeckShieldAlert reported a substantial outbound transfer of 1,300 Bitcoin from a wallet labeled as belonging to the “German Government (BKA).”
These Bitcoin, worth $75 million, were distributed among three major crypto exchanges: Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitstamp.
Further investigation by Cointelegraph revealed that the German government wallet also transferred an additional 1,700 BTC to a different wallet address simultaneously.
The PeckShield team later confirmed this to Cointelegraph, stating:
“Total 3K out (from German gov’t labeled wallet), including 1.3K -> CEXs and 1.7K -> (to a wallet address) 139PoPE1bKQam8QJjhVjYDP47f3VH7ybVu.”
According to data from onchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence, while the initial 1,300 BTC were sent to centralized exchanges, the remaining 1,700 BTC were moved to a separate cryptocurrency wallet.
Over the last two weeks, the German government has transferred more than 3,000 BTC to various exchanges.
These significant transfers, alongside ongoing movements from the United States government and the approaching Mt. Gox repayments, pose a potential increase in selling pressure on Bitcoin.
Since February 2024, the wallet labeled as the German government’s has held 50,000 BTC, gradually transferring a significant portion of its holdings over the past few months.
Governments, including Germany, have confiscated Bitcoin and other digital assets linked to criminal activities and periodically auction off these seized assets.
In a notable precedent, the United States government has sold a large portion of Bitcoin seized from the notorious dark web marketplace Silk Road.
In 2014, Tim Draper, an American entrepreneur and Bitcoin advocate, purchased 29,656 BTC from the Silk Road seizure in an auction conducted by U.S. marshals.
These ongoing transactions highlight the continued involvement of government entities in the cryptocurrency market and their efforts to manage and liquidate seized digital assets.
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