Germany Sends Another $24 Million in Bitcoin to Exchanges
On the morning of Tuesday (25th), addresses associated with the German government made significant Bitcoin transfers. In total, they sent over 400 BTC (approximately $24.34 million) to the exchanges Coinbase and Kraken.
The move suggests a possible intention to sell the Bitcoins that the German government seized last week, according to on-chain analysis provider Arkham.
In addition to the 400 BTC sent to Coinbase and Kraken, the German government also transferred 500 BTC (approximately $30.4 million) to an address identified as 139Po. It is still unclear where these funds will be moved.
This move adds to the $130 million in BTC that Germany sent to exchanges on June 19 and the $65 million sent on June 20. However, it is worth noting that the German government received back $20.1 million from Kraken and $5.5 million from wallets linked to Robinhood, Bitstamp, and Coinbase.
Germany Moves Seized Bitcoin
According to data from the blockchain analysis platform, the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany (BKA) sent 200 BTC (approximately $12.17 million) to each of the mentioned cryptocurrency exchanges around 7:38 AM UTC.
Currently, the German government holds 46,359 BTC, valued at approximately $2.8 billion at current prices. Thus, the country is now one of the largest holders of Bitcoin among nation-states, behind only the United States, China, and the United Kingdom.
The origin of these Bitcoins dates back to the seizure of 50,000 BTC in January, linked to the operation of the movie piracy platform Movie2k. This was the largest amount of Bitcoins ever seized by German police. The suspects voluntarily transferred the Bitcoin to wallets controlled by the German authorities, but the destination of the funds was unclear until now.
Bitcoin Transactions
On June 18, addresses labeled by Arkham as belonging to the German government initiated small test transactions. They then conducted larger transactions of 0.001 BTC (approximately $60) to addresses associated with Bitstamp, Kraken, and Coinbase, as well as to the 139Po address.
The next day, a government address moved a total of $425 million in Bitcoin to another address it owned, followed by an internal transfer of $318 million. They then sent 500 BTC (approximately $32.6 million) to Kraken, Bitstamp, and Coinbase, along with 500 BTC to 139Po.
On June 20, they sent another 800 BTC ($52.7 million) to 139Po, followed by 200 BTC (approximately $13.2 million) to Coinbase. However, the German government received back 310 BTC (approximately $20.1 million) from Kraken on the same day. Additionally, they received a total of 90 BTC (approximately $5.5 million) from wallets linked to Robinhood, Bitstamp, and Coinbase.
Currently, Bitcoin is priced at $61,166, according to CoinGecko. The largest cryptocurrency by market value has remained stable over the past 24 hours.