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On July 4, blockchain security platform PeckShield reported that wallets linked to the German government were moving BTC.
Around 1,300 coins worth roughly $75 million were transferred from these associated wallets to centralized exchanges Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitstamp, it noted.
It is not the first transfer this week; on July 2, the wallet associated with the German government transferred 832.7 BTC in four transactions.
#PeckShieldAlert The #Bitcoin address bc1qq0…738z (labeled as German Gov.?) has transferred 1.3K $BTC (worth ~$75M) to CEXs (#Coinbase & #Kraken #Bitstamp) pic.twitter.com/a2w6CrDltl
— PeckShieldAlert (@PeckShieldAlert) July 4, 2024
German Govt Selling Pressure
The findings were backed up by crypto intelligence platform Arkham, which reported that a similar amount was sent to the three exchanges.
The entity transferred 500 BTC to Bitstamp, 400 coins to Coinbase, and 400 to Kraken. The undetermined wallet ‘139Po’ received a large transfer of 1,700 BTC worth $98.7 million also.
According to Arkham, the entity labeled ‘German Government (BKA)’ still contains around $2.3 billion worth of Bitcoin.
The BKA-labelled wallet, which holds 40,359 BTC, could add more selling pressure to Bitcoin’s already declining price.
The German government has now sent more than $300 million worth of BTC to crypto exchange addresses and the ‘139Po’ address.
The German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA)-labeled wallet first sparked suspicions of BTC selling on June 19, when it transferred 6,500 coins worth more than $425 million at the time.
The assets were seized in 2013 when the BKA confiscated almost 50,000 BTC, which was valued at over $2 billion at the time, from the operators of Movie2k.to, a popular film piracy website.
Germany is not the only country to move and potentially liquidate Bitcoin. In late June, the U.S. government transferred $240 million worth of Bitcoin linked to Silk Road to a Coinbase Prime address.
The United States is the largest governmental holder of BTC with 213,246 coins followed by China which has 190,000 BTC, according to BitcoinTreasuries.
BTC Dumps 5.5%
The move has added to the selling pressure, with BTC falling 5.5% over the past few hours to bottom out at $57,071, according to CoinGecko.
In addition to the German government transactions, the nine-week low has been caused by Mt. Gox redemptions, miner selling, and political uncertainty in the U.S.
Analysts have predicted that the asset could fall as low as $50,000 during this market pullback.
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