UPDATE: German government continues bitcoin transfers, now holds fewer than 5,000 BTC
Quick Take
- The German government once again moved funds totaling nearly 10,627 bitcoins ($615.3 million) to Bitstamp, Kraken and Coinbase, among other entities, on Thursday.
Right on schedule, a wallet controlled by a German government authority has transferred more bitcoin to centralized exchanges Bitstamp, Kraken and Coinbase, among other entities, with the presumed intent to sell on Thursday.
At around 7:51 a.m. UTC, the German government moved exactly 375 bitcoins ($21.8 million) to Bitstamp, 375 bitcoins ($21.8 million) to Kraken and 375 bitcoins ($21.8 million) to Coinbase — totaling 1,125 bitcoins ($65.3 million). It also moved 1,000 bitcoins ($58.1 million) to a wallet identified by Arkham as belonging to B2C2 Group. Additionally, it moved 250 bitcoins ($14.5 million) to a presumed OTC service institutional deposit address "bc1qu" at the same time.
In a later transaction at around 10:06 a.m. UTC, the German government also sent nearly 152 bitcoins ($8.9 million) to crypto market maker Cumberland DRW, followed by another 100 bitcoins ($5.9 million) to the firm an hour later. It also sent a further 1,500 bitcoins ($88.2 million) to B2C2 Group at around 11:53 a.m. UTC.
Between 12:03 p.m. UTC and 12:13 p.m. UTC, the authority sent another 500 bitcoins (29.4 million) to Bitstamp, 300 bitcoins ($17.6 million) to Coinbase and 200 bitcoins ($11.7 million) to Kraken. It also sent a further 500 bitcoins ($29.4 million) to the same unlabeled "bc1qu" address.
Later sends between 3:51 p.m. UTC and 4:09 p.m UTC saw the German government transfer another 2,000 bitcoins ($114.8 million) to market maker Flow Traders, 1,000 bitcoins ($57.2 million) to B2C2 Group, 700 bitcoins ($40.1 million) to Bitstamp, 400 bitcoins ($22.9 million) to Coinbase and 400 bitcoins ($22.9 million) to Kraken. A further 500 bitcoins ($28.6 million) were sent to the "bc1qu" address.
In total, the German government has apparently transferred out 10,627 bitcoins on Thursday, worth $615.3 million. It still holds around 4,925 bitcoins, valued at more than $283 million, according to Arkham.
The latest moves follow yesterday's transfers of more than 10,853 bitcoins (worth $637.7 million at the time) to the same or similar entities — though the German government received back 2,422 bitcoins ($142 million) last night. The returned bitcoins were presumably unsold as part of a sale agreement.
Overall, the transfers align with the German government's strategy to offload 50,000 confiscated bitcoins seized from the now-defunct film piracy website Movie2K in January — which independent member of the German Bundestag and bitcoin advocate Joana Cotar criticized as "counterproductive."
The price of the foremost cryptocurrency is trading flat on the day at $57,700, according to The Block's Bitcoin Price Page. However, bitcoin's price remains down around 10% since the German authorities began moving funds to exchanges on June 18.
Updated with additional details throughout.
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