Germany Holds Less Than $300 Million in Bitcoin as Selloff Accelerates

After weeks of sell pressure and crypto community dread, the German government is approaching the end of its multi-billion dollar Bitcoin market dumping campaign.

Back in June, Europe’s economic powerhouse held 50,000 BTC—worth $2.8 billion at today’s price—in its government wallets, seized from the proprietors of film piracy site Movie2k in January of this year. As of today, blockchain sleuths say the government has moved the vast majority of those funds out of its digital wallet.

But as of this writing, on-chain data from Arkham Intelligence points to just 4,925 BTC remaining in the German government’s wallets, or about $284 million worth at the current price. German officials made a number of transfers to exchanges and market makers early Thursday.

These venues—to which the government has sent billions of dollars in Bitcoin since June 20—include the biggest crypto industry names like Kraken, Coinbase, and Bitstamp, alongside wealth management Cumberland and other addresses suspected of being over-the-counter or institutional trading desks.

Outflows began at a relatively moderate pace but started ramping up earlier this week as the government sent out $900 million from its wallet on Monday alone.

Given that those coins have been directed toward trading platforms, most analysts assume they’re being dumped on the market, contributing to a wave of sell pressure that’s stifled Bitcoin’s price in recent weeks. Trading for $57,660 on Thursday, BTC is down 13% over the last month.

Simply transferring Bitcoin from its wallets to exchange doesn’t necessarily indicate that the funds were then ultimately liquidated. The government has at times had Bitcoin returned to its wallet after sending those funds to an exchange, such as Kraken.

Nevertheless, the state’s net balance is on a fast track to zero, signaling that the government’s looming threat to crash the market may soon be history. And some bullish Bitcoin investors believe Germany is missing out on potential future gains by liquidating these assets now.

“In a few years, this will be looked back on as one of the biggest geopolitical blunders of all time,” tweeted Capriole Investments founder Charles Edwards. “It will be studied in universities.”

Edited by Andrew Hayward