German Government Transfers $94M in Bitcoin to Exchanges

German Government Transfers $94M in Bitcoin to Exchanges

The German government’s disengagement from cryptocurrencies is progressing rapidly. A recent transfer of Bitcoin to centralized exchanges has raised alarms among users, suggesting a potential sell-off. This latest move amounted to $94 million.

The transfer included approximately ₿1500, distributed among wallets on Kraken, Coinbase, and Bitstamp exchanges. According to data from the analytics site Arkham Intelligence, the transfers also involved an unknown wallet. A batch of two transactions of ₿600 and ₿500 were sent to an unknown wallet, ₿200 to Bitstamp, ₿100 to Coinbase, and ₿100 to Kraken.

These transfers add to others made in recent days, indicating a process of disengagement from cryptocurrencies. The German government appears uninterested in keeping these BTC in its reserves and has decided to sell them. In recent weeks, Berlin has sent around ₿2700 bitcoins to exchanges, according to the same source.

Potential Impact on Bitcoin’s Price

The German government’s intent to sell could exert downward pressure on BTC’s price. These actions come at a time when the cryptocurrency is attempting to recover from a strong bearish trend.

The intensification of Bitcoin transfers to centralized exchanges by the German government is particularly notable. This disengagement strategy could negatively impact the cryptocurrency’s price if the transfers result in sales. Increased market liquidity could lead to a price drop.

However, unusual cryptocurrency movements are not exclusive to German authorities. According to Arkham, wallets labeled as belonging to the U.S. government have also made movements, although in this case with ETH, the native currency of Ethereum. Recently, 3,375 ETH (valued at $11.75 million) were sent to an unknown wallet.

These Ethereum funds were seized from two Estonian businessmen arrested at the end of 2022 for fraud. The fund movements by both governments join other similar transfers made recently.

Currently, wallets attributed to U.S. authorities hold 213,534 BTC, valued at $13.42 billion. Additionally, the amount of ETH stands at 50,524 tokens, with a value of nearly $176 million. This means the government has the power to influence Bitcoin’s price through transfers to exchanges whenever they choose.

As of writing, BTC’s price is $62,049.59 per coin, according to CoinMarketCap. This represents a 1% decrease in the last 24 hours.