A cryptocurrency wallet called “German Government (BKA)” has sold an additional $900 million worth of Bitcoin, raising concerns that the associated selling pressure could push the BTC price lower.
According to on-chain data from Arkham Intelligence, a wallet associated with the German government transferred a total of approximately 16,309 Bitcoin (BTC) in multiple transactions to multiple external addresses on July 8. This represents the largest single-day Bitcoin liquidation. Some of the transfers were made to cryptocurrency exchanges Bitstamp, Coinbase, and Kraken, as well as market makers Flow Traders and Cumberland DRW.
One of the largest trades saw 3,500 BTC sent to Flow Traders, 200 BTC to Kraken, 400 BTC to Bitstamp, and 400 BTC to Coinbase.
Another 700 BTC, worth $38.5 million, was sent to the “139Po” wallet, which is unknown but has previously received funds from the German government. This includes 550 BTC on July 2, 500 BTC on June 25, and 800 BTC on June 20.
Following these transfers, the Bitcoin price fell sharply during the European trading session, falling by as much as 6.75% from a high of $58,200 to a low of $54,278, shortly after the last blockchain trading group totaled 8,700 BTC.
The German government has been hit by more than half of the selling frenzy in recent days. According to Arkham data, since it began selling off digital assets in June, its holdings have fallen from 50,000 BTC to 23,788 BTC, or $1.3 billion.
The Bitcoin price drop has triggered massive liquidations across the cryptocurrency markets. According to data from Coinglass, a total of $425 million in leveraged positions have been liquidated across the cryptocurrency markets, of which $216 million were long liquidations.
Over $189 million worth of Bitcoin positions have been liquidated in the last 24 hours, $87 million of which were liquidated in the last 12 hours alone. Of these, $81 million were long BTC positions, while $107.97 million were short BTC liquidations.
Bitcoin appears to have found significant support at $54,700, but a move below that would see the liquidation of roughly $750 million in cumulative leveraged long positions across all exchanges, according to Coinglass data.
Related: Bitcoin Weakness Surges Digital Asset Inflows to $441 Million
Mt. Gox Redemption Could Increase Bitcoin Selling Pressure
The long-awaited repayment process for creditors of the shuttered cryptocurrency exchange Mt. Gox has begun, and the repayments are expected to be in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash (BCH).
On July 5, Mt. Gox bankruptcy trustee Nobuaki Kobayashi announced in a statement that the company had begun repaying some creditors in Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash through several designated cryptocurrency exchanges.
The balance that needs to be repaid amounts to $9 billion, a significant amount of BTC and BCH, plus additional funds held by the trustees.
In addition to the Bitcoin selling pressure, there are reports that cryptocurrency exchange Bitstamp is planning to quickly distribute a portion of the Bitcoin redemption to Mt. Gox creditors, but they will be given up to two months to receive the coins.
According to blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, this came after a small amount of bitcoin was removed from wallets associated with Mt. Gox, while $2.71 billion was transferred from the exchange’s cold wallets, presumably in preparation for a redemption.
Market participants still expect the Bitcoin price to rally again, and they expect the bull market to continue once short-term selling pressure from the Mt. Gox redemption and German government sales cools.
At the time of publication, Bitcoin was trading at $56,433, down 1.52% over the last 24 hours.
This article does not contain any investment advice or recommendations. All investment and trading moves involve risk, and readers should conduct their own research when making decisions.