A crypto wallet linked to the German government transferred more than 3,000 Bitcoin worth over $172 million in parts to three crypto exchanges and a wallet.
On July 4, blockchain investigator PeckShield alerted about a significant outbound transfer of 1,300 Bitcoin (BTC) from a “German Government (BKA)” labeled cryptocurrency wallet. The $75 million worth of Bitcoin transfers was spread across three prominent crypto exchanges: Coinbase, Kraken and Bitstamp.
Multiple BTC transfers from German government wallet
Further investigation from Cointelegraph revealed that the German government wallet concurrently transferred another 1,700 BTC to a separate wallet address. Speaking to Cointelegraph, the PeckShield team later confirmed that the wallet transferred 3,000 BTC:
“Total 3K out (from German gov’t labeled wallet), including 1.3K -> CEXs and 1.7K -> (to a wallet address) 139PoPE1bKQam8QJjhVjYDP47f3VH7ybVu.”
While the initial 1,300 BTC were moved to centralized crypto exchanges, the remaining 1,700 were transferred to a separate crypto wallet, according to data from the onchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence.
Impact on Bitcoin selling pressure
The German government has transferred more than 3,000 BTC to multiple exchanges over the last two weeks as well.
The ongoing whale transfers from the German and the United States governments, coupled with the nearing of Mt. Gox repayments, threaten to introduce greater selling pressure on Bitcoin.
Since February 2024, the German government-labeled wallet has held 50,000 BTC and has transferred away a major chunk of its holdings over the past few months.
Germany, as well as governments worldwide, have confiscated Bitcoin and other digital assets linked to criminal activities, and they hold occasional auctions to sell their confiscated crypto holdings.
The United States government has already sold a significant chunk of the BTC linked to the infamous dark web marketplace, the Silk Road. Tim Draper, an American businessman and Bitcoin advocate, bought 29,656 BTC from the Silk Road haul in 2014 at an auction organized by U.S. marshals.