It seems that the ultimate goal of the German government for its Bitcoin holdings is in total liquidation as authorities have continued their massive BC sell-offs, pushing the total reserve below 5,000 BTC. These large-scale transactions are part of the government’s robust effort to dump the BTC that was originally seized in conjunction with multiple criminal investigations, most notably Movie2k.
More than 90% of Bitcoin sold comes from German government holdings
In a recent wave of transactions quoted by popular intelligence platform Arkham, the German government has once again conducted a massive Bitcoin sell-off, leading to greater speculation about the strategy. Data from the platform shows that authorities moved over 5,000 BTC, worth $286 million, to Flow Traders, Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitstamp, and wallet addresses 139Po and bc1qu.
It’s worth noting that 4 hours prior to these transactions, the government made a series of transfers to the address 139Po (either an institutional deposit or an over-the-counter service), Cumberland, Coinbase, Bitstamp, and Kraken. Arkham revealed that a whopping 3,250 BTC, worth $191 million, was transferred to the cryptocurrency exchanges.
As of Thursday, the total amount of Bitcoin sold by authorities to market makers and crypto exchanges was approximately 10,627, according to the platform. BTC worth $615 million. As a result, government reserves now hold approximately 4,925 BTC, which is only 9.9% of the total Bitcoin originally seized from Movie2k’s operator.
The government’s actions sparked much debate within the crypto space, with several top figures criticizing the nation for its ongoing BTC liquidation strategy. Earlier this week, Vivek Sen, a reporter at Bitcoin Magazine and founder of Bitgrow Lab, said criticized the authorities call them idiots.
According to the reporter, BTC is the hardest money in the world and the state is constantly selling it for a currency that can be created out of thin air. Vivek was unhappy with the actions and even went so far as to German government civil servants literally idiots.
BTC Spot ETFs See 5-Day Consecutive Inflows
While the German government has been selling BTC extensively, causing price drops, US Bitcoin Spot Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs) have attracted significant inflows recently, posting 5 consecutive days of gains.
On Thursday, the analysis platform Sosovalue published reported that US spot BTC ETFs saw a daily inflow of $78 million, marking their fifth consecutive inflow. Data from Sosovalue shows that BlackRock ETF IBIT and Fidelity ETF FBTC recorded daily inflows of $72 million and $32 million respectively. Meanwhile, Grayscale ETF GBTC saw another day of outflows, posting a loss of around $37 million.
With this Thursday’s gains, the net inflow of the BTC Spot ETFs From the first day, January 11, to date, sales have totaled $15.5 billion, indicating growing acceptance and interest in the products.
Main image from iStock, chart from Tradingview.com