Germany Moves Another $362 Million Worth of Bitcoin as Selloff Continues

By Stacy Elliott

After a handful of wallet transfers earlier today, the German government has sent a total of $362 million worth of Bitcoin to Kraken and crypto trading desks so far Tuesday, according to blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence.

Altogether the German government appears to control five different wallets that Arkham has been tracking as one entity on its platform. At the time of writing, all of those wallets hold a combined $1.3 billion worth of Bitcoin.

The Tuesday afternoon transfers included $55 million sent to U.S. crypto exchange Kraken, and $6 million worth of Bitcoin sent to Chicago-based liquidity provider Cumberland DRW. Cumberland is a relatively new name to show up as investors track the movements of the German government's seized Bitcoin. It first appeared yesterday, when the German Bundeskriminalamt (BKA) sent it $7.6 million.

But the bulk of its funds, 5,000 BTC in total worth approximately $246 million, have gone to a wallet that Arkham believes is "likely institutional deposit/OTC service."

The transfers on the German BKA-controlled wallets have at times been difficult to follow.

In the past 24 hours, the German government has withdrawn $113 million worth of BTC from Kraken. But it's also true that around this time yesterday, the BKA sent 900 BTC valued at $51.36 million to the U.S.-based exchange. That coupled with the $55 million that was sent to the exchange this morning means the German government has withdrawn roughly $15 million more than it's sent to Kraken in the past day.

Kraken isn't the only exchange the German government is making withdrawals from. Altogether, the government pulled 5,366 Bitcoin back from exchanges that included $92 million from Bitstamp and $20 million from Coinbase.

Whether intentional or not, the impact on markets has been less pronounced than when Germany first started moving its seized BTC to exchanges in late June. At the time of writing, Bitcoin is still trading above $57,130—an 0.2% increase since this time yesterday, but about 9% lower than it was a week ago, according to CoinGecko.

According to Arkham data, Germany now holds $1.3 billion worth of Bitcoin within its wallets, down from $3.5 billion in early June—though given the moves of BTC from exchange accounts back to its wallets, it's possible that the government hasn't yet sold through all of the Bitcoin that it previously moved to exchanges.

Edited by Andrew Hayward

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