Key Takeaways:
The German Federal Criminal Police Office moved 400 BTC to Coinbase and Kraken
Bitcoin’s price is down over 10% monthly, with sentiment shifting from greed to fear
The German authorities’ current Bitcoin holdings stem from a massive 2013 seizure linked to the Movie2k
In a significant development, the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) transferred 400 Bitcoin (BTC), valued at approximately $24.34 million, to Coinbase and Kraken on Tuesday morning, according to reports from Arkham Intelligence. Additionally, 500 BTC, worth about $30.4 million, was moved to an untagged address labeled “139Po.”
This activity occurs against the backdrop of Bitcoin’s recent price slump, with the cryptocurrency down over 10% on the monthly chart and 3.95% over the past week. Market sentiment has shifted from extreme greed to fear within just a week, as indicated by the Fear and Greed Index.
The decline in Bitcoin’s price is influenced by several factors. Notably, an announcement from the defunct exchange Mt. Gox has exacerbated market jitters. The exchange plans to distribute $9 billion in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash repayments in July, adding to the market’s selling pressure.
Despite this, a $24 million Bitcoin sale is relatively small in comparison to the $40 billion worth of BTC that changed hands over the past 24 hours, as per CoinGecko data. On platforms like Binance, liquidity is robust enough to handle trades of up to $20 million in BTC without significant price movements.
The German Federal Criminal Police Office’s recent activity is part of a broader context involving the massive seizure of almost 50,000 BTC from the operators of Movie2k.to, a film piracy website active until 2013.
This seizure, valued at over $2 billion at the time, remains the largest of its kind in Germany. Currently, the German government’s wallet holds 46,359 BTC, worth approximately $2.8 billion. This substantial holding continues to be a potential source of selling pressure on the market.
The Dresden Public Prosecutor’s Office revealed that the two operators of Movie2k.to used proceeds from their illegal activities to purchase Bitcoin. The site was responsible for distributing more than 880,000 pirated films between 2008 and May 2013.
The BTC seizure, linked to this investigation, underscores the ongoing impact of law enforcement actions on the cryptocurrency market.
The transfer of Bitcoin by the German Federal Criminal Police Office is a reminder of the significant holdings that government bodies can control and their potential influence on market dynamics.
