The German government’s Bitcoin wallet is down to 9,094 Bitcoin — just 18% of what it started with — after the latest string of back-and-forth transfers with crypto exchanges on July 11.
The wallet, which has been holding Bitcoin seized from a film pirating website crackdown in January, has transferred out billions in Bitcoin since June 19 but ramped up efforts at the start of July.
On July 11, the wallet even briefly dipped below 5,000 BTC after sending 10,620 BTC — worth $615 million — to cryptocurrency trading platforms Coinbase, Bitstamp, Kraken, Flow Traders and two anonymous addresses, blockchain intelligence firm Arkham noted.
However, shortly after, some of those funds were transferred back to the German government wallet, which brought Germany’s Bitcoin holdings back above 9,000 BTC.
The current tally means the German government now only holds 18% of the 49,857 Bitcoin it seized from film piracy website Movie2k back in January, worth $520 million.
Arkham believes the two anonymous addresses — ending in “139Po” and “bc1qu” — are likely owned by institutional deposit or over-the-counter trading service providers. However, that hasn’t been confirmed.
Germany’s mass sell-off hasn’t sat well with German lawmaker and Bitcoin activist Joana Cotar, who argued earlier this month Bitcoin could have instead been adopted as a “strategic reserve currency” to shield against risks in the traditional system.
One Ordinals user seemingly voiced their own frustrations on something else, sending Germany’s wallet address an inscription in German that translates to “Taxes are robbery.”
The sell-off, combined with worries Mt. Gox has started to offload more than $8 billion in Bitcoin to its creditors, has largely fueled a Bitcoin price slump in recent weeks.
The bearish events have contributed to the Crypto Fear & Greed Index — an indicator tracking market sentiment — falling into the “Extreme Fear” zone for the first time since January last year.
Bitcoin is currently trading at $56,870, down 1.8% over the last 24 hours and 15.1% over the last month.
