In a notable move, a cryptocurrency wallet labeled “German Government (BKA)” sold more than €50 million worth of Bitcoin on June 25. The sale included three separate transactions, with a total of 900 Bitcoin traded.
Part was sent to Coinbase and other part to Kraken
The first transaction of 200 BTC was sent to the Coinbase exchange, followed by a second transaction of another 200 BTC to the Kraken exchange. The third and largest transaction, worth 500 BTC or more than $28 million, was sent to the wallet “139Po,” whose owner is unknown, according to onchain intelligence provider Arkham Intelligence.
Although the identity behind wallet “139Po” remains unclear, the German government has previously conducted transactions with this address. On June 20, the government sent 800 BTC to this wallet and another 500 BTC on June 19.
More than 46,000 Bitcoin left in wallet
After the recent transactions, the government-tagged wallet still contains 46,359 Bitcoin, with an estimated value of more than $2.8 billion. These large amounts of BTC could create significant selling pressure, pushing Bitcoin’s price below the psychological $56,000 mark.
Bitcoin’s price has been falling for some time, losing 11% on a monthly basis and more than 7% on a weekly basis. At 9:40 UTC, Bitcoin was trading just above $61,000, according to data from Bitstamp.
Popular analyst Willy Woo suggested in a post on June 22 that Bitcoin may experience a correction that could last up to four weeks before resuming price appreciation. He wrote to his 1.1 million followers: “Keeping an eye on this model…probably another 1-4 weeks of cooling before #Bitcoin price action is boring enough. Graph: Intensity of Speculators Playing Casino Games.”
Large portion of funds may have been seized
The German government first raised suspicions of a possible Bitcoin sale on June 19, when it carried out a transfer of 6,500 BTC worth more than €396 million. In addition to transactions to unlabeled wallets, the majority of Bitcoin is being transferred to centralized exchanges, indicating that the government may be planning to sell more Bitcoin.
The funds in the wallet are worth almost 50,000 BTC as of February 2024 and are believed to have been seized from illegal movie website operator Movie2k.
However, July could bring even more selling pressure as collapsed cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox has announced that it will refund its users. More than $8.8 billion worth of Bitcoin is owed to approximately 127,000 Mt. Gox creditors, who have been waiting for more than a decade for their funds to be returned. This could cause significant selling pressure for Bitcoin.
Source: https://newsbit.nl/duitse-overheid-verkoopt-meer-dan-e50-miljoen-aan-bitcoin/
