Bitcoin
Coinbase Germany boss opens up about the real reason the country dumped $2.3 billion into Bitcoin – DL News
- Coinbase Germany boss comments on Bitcoin sales in the country.
- The German government has sold around $2.3 billion worth of Bitcoin since June 19.
- Germany is not the only country with confiscated Bitcoins.
Fears over the ongoing liquidation of Bitcoin seized by the German government have triggered a 25% drop from highs.
But Jan Sell, managing director of Coinbase Germany, says not to panic.
Selling “is not a particularly anti-crypto move,” he said in an interview with DL News. “It’s not an investment for them. It’s like they seized a car or something from people, so at some point they have to get rid of it.”
In January, Germany’s central criminal investigation agency seized 50,000 Bitcoins from Movie2k.to, a movie piracy website found guilty of money laundering and other illegal activities.
The German government transferred 40,000 Bitcoin, valued at around $2.3 billion, to several cryptocurrency exchanges — including Coinbase.
Sell said the Bitcoin Coinbase sold on behalf of the German government is “not a huge amount,” in terms of the volume the exchange typically sees.
He revealed that Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy — which holds around $13 billion worth of Bitcoin — bought “similar types of volumes” in a single weekend.
Still, the sale certainly rattled investors.
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O Cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Indexa measure of market sentiment, fell to 26 out of 100 — its lowest reading since January 2023.
And Germany isn’t the only country with confiscated Bitcoins.
Onchain data compiled by Arkham Intelligence show the US government holds over $13 billion in seized Bitcoins, while UK authorities hold around $3.6 billion.
Governments have already sold confiscated cryptocurrencies directly to buyers at auction. But for larger amounts it is not easy to find bidders, leaving no alternative but to sell the cryptocurrency on the open market.
The concern among investors is that if more governments decide to cash out their confiscated cryptocurrencies, it could further disrupt the market.
‘Other big sales’
Since the German government began selling Bitcoin on June 19, the leading cryptocurrency has struggled to recover.
Bitcoin has been trading below $60,000 since July 4.
Sell said, however, that he does not believe German government sales are entirely responsible for the decline.
“There are some other big sales happening at the moment,” he said without giving further details.
One concern is the distribution of Bitcoin from Mt. Gox, the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange that was hacked in 2014.
The now-defunct exchange is expected to return more than 140,000 Bitcoins, worth around $8 billion, to victims this month.
Many recipients are expected to withdraw money.
Since Mt. Gox suspended trading over 10 years ago, Bitcoin has risen over 10,000%.
Tim Craig is a DeFi correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at tim@dlnews.com.