2024

Bitcoin

Stash

<p>The German government has depleted most of its Bitcoin holdings after an e<a href="https://www.newsbtc.com/bitcoin-news/bitcoin-crash-weak-hands-loss-taking-2022-lows/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">xtended period of sellof</a>fs that left crypto investors reeling under selling pressure. The origin of these assets can be traced back to 2013 through the proceeds of the operations of a now-defunct movie content piracy website called Movie2K. Reports came out in mid-January 2024 that the Saxony State Criminal Police Office seized 50,000 BTC from one of the website’s operators as part of criminal investigations directed towards Movie2K.&nbsp;</p> 
<p>At the time of Movie2K’s operations in 2013, these assets were collectively worth less than $50 million. However, Bitcoin has appreciated massively since then, and the value of the stockpile had grown to more than $2.5 billion before the seizure in January 2024. <a href="https://bitcoinist.com/germany-billion-dollar-bitcoin/">Selloffs began on June</a> 19 but were ramped up in July. Notably, on-chain data shows that the selloffs have seen the stash deplete by over 40,000 BTC in the past month, with less than 5,000 BTC now remaining.</p> 
<h2 id="germany-s-selloffs-could-end-soon">Germany’s Selloffs Could End Soon</h2> 
<p>Numerous news reports and prominent voices in the crypto market have pointed the finger of blame at the German government for the selloffs. However, a small German state called Saxony is responsible for the sales of billions worth of Bitcoin. Nevertheless, the selloffs undoubtedly shocked many investors and largely contributed to a strain on the price of Bitcoin in the past several weeks. This, in turn, led to a chain reaction in the entire market, and many altcoins saw their values plummet in unison with Bitcoin.</p> 
<p>According to on-chain data from Arkham Intelligence, the selloffs might be ending soon, which may provide the market with a much-needed break. Notably, the most recent transfer involved the transfer of 2,700 BTC worth $154.56 million just two hours ago into Coinbase, Bitstamp, Kraken, 139Po (likely institutional deposit/OTC service), and address bc1qu. </p> 
<p>So far, they have transferred 14,178 BTC to market makers and exchanges <a href="https://bitcoinist.com/germany-unloads-record-breaking-16000-bitcoin-stash/">in the past 24 hours</a>, bringing their total sales to over 43,000 BTC. At the time of writing, the state government controls 6,894 BTC worth $394.43 million. With most of the assets already gone, the selloffs should have a lesser effect on selling pressure going forward.</p> 
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium wp-image-310042" src="https://bitcoinist.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Germany-Bitcoin.png?w=512&amp;resize=512%2C172" alt="Germany Bitcoin" width="512" height="172" data-recalc-dims="1"> 
<h2 id="what-s-next-for-bitcoin">What’s Next For Bitcoin?</h2> 
<p>Bitcoin is currently trading at $57,195 and is up by 5.73% in a seven-day timeframe. While 43,000 BTC is not insignificant, the market has actually been <a href="https://www.newsbtc.com/bitcoin-news/is-a-bitcoin-breakout-looming-options-markets-signal-imminent-volatility-surge/" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">handling it pretty well</a> so far. Bitcoin’s total market cap is in the trillions of dollars, so the recent selloff is just a drop in the digital Bitcoin ocean. This school of thought <a href="https://bitcoinist.com/why-the-us-and-german-government-selling-bitcoin-isnt-a-big-deal/">was recently reaffirmed</a> by Ki Young Ju, the founder and CEO of CryptoQuant. He is of the opinion that the selloffs have prompted an overblown reaction from cryptocurrency investors.&nbsp;</p> 
<p>On the other hand, the country of El Salvador has been taking advantage of the selloffs to increase its Bitcoin holdings.</p> 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> 
 <p dir="ltr" lang="en"><img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/15.0.3/72x72/1f1e9-1f1ea.png" alt="🇩🇪" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;"> While Germany is selling their <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Bitcoin?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">#Bitcoin</a>, El Salvador is buying more Bitcoin every day <img src="https://s.w.org/images/core/emoji/15.0.3/72x72/1f1f8-1f1fb.png" alt="🇸🇻" class="wp-smiley" style="height: 1em; max-height: 1em;"> <a href="https://t.co/XKnscuxwBA" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">pic.twitter.com/XKnscuxwBA</a></p> 
 <p>— Bitcoin Magazine (@BitcoinMagazine) <a href="https://twitter.com/BitcoinMagazine/status/1811508713619939719?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">July 11, 2024</a></p>
</blockquote>  
<img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-medium" src="https://www.tradingview.com/x/hW7j2ryv/" alt="Bitcoin price chart from Tradingview.com" width="3286" height="1566">

Germany Depletes Bitcoin Stash After Selling Over 40,000 BTC

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