German Government Sends $339.2 Million Worth of Bitcoin to Crypto Exchanges and Market Makers

German Government Sends $339.2 Million Worth of Bitcoin to Crypto Exchanges and Market Makers

In a series of bitcoin transfers, the German government has sent a total of $339.2 million worth of bitcoin to addresses belonging to centralized crypto exchanges and market makers on Tuesday. This comes after a similar move yesterday, where over 15,000 bitcoins were transferred.

According to onchain analytics platform Arkham, the German government sent 800 bitcoins ($45.9 million) to Kraken, 5,000 bitcoins ($287.1 million) to B2C2 Group, and nearly 107 bitcoins ($6.2 million) to Cumberland DRW. An additional 400 bitcoins ($23 million) were sent to an unlabeled address. The government also received 1,692 bitcoins ($96.9 million) back from Bitstamp.

This move follows the seizure of 50,000 bitcoins from the film piracy site Movie2k in January, prompting the German government to start moving bitcoin to exchanges last month. However, 3,623 bitcoins ($203.7 million) were later transferred back to the government from Bitstamp, Coinbase, and Kraken.

The remaining seized bitcoins held by the German government amount to 22,846 bitcoins, worth around $1.3 billion. Last week, Joana Cotar, an independent member of the German Bundestag, criticized the government’s decision to sell the bitcoin and urged them to retain it as a strategic reserve asset.

Despite the ongoing transfers, the price of bitcoin has remained relatively flat at $57,341 over the past 24 hours. However, the price has fallen by around 12% since the German government started moving funds to exchanges on June 18.

It is speculated that the exchanges sent back unsold bitcoins to the government after failing to sell them within a targeted price range. The situation continues to evolve, with updates expected as more details emerge.