Germany transferred thousands of bitcoins to various exchanges and market makers over the course of several days with the intention of selling the cryptocurrencies it seized in January.
According to data collected by Arkham Intelligence, wallet balances in European countries reached zero on Friday afternoon, with Germany at X.3846.05 Bitcoin
+0.35%
According to Arkham Intelligence (an on-chain analytics firm), in the early hours of Friday, a German wallet transferred bitcoin to wallets linked to Bitstamp, Coinbase, Kraken, B2C2 Group, Cumberland DRW, and an unmarked OTC service address.
The Bitcoin transfer date appears to be related to the German government’s plan to sell 50,000 Bitcoins seized from the now-defunct movie piracy website Movie2K earlier this year. At the time Germany seized the 50,000 Bitcoins, their value was estimated at over $2 billion.
Last month, Germany began implementing a series of steps to transfer bitcoin to various exchanges. At least one German lawmaker has opposed the plan to sell the seized bitcoin.
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About the Author
RT Watson is a senior reporter at The Block, covering a wide range of topics including corporate America, blockchain gaming, and NFTs. Previously, he covered entertainment at The Wall Street Journal, writing about Disney, Netflix, Warner Bros., and the creator economy, with a focus on technological disruption across media. Prior to that, he covered corporate, economic, and political news in Brazil at Bloomberg. RT has interviewed a wide range of people, including CEOs, media moguls, major influencers, politicians, blue-collar workers, drug dealers, and convicted criminals. He holds a Master’s degree in Digital Sociology.