The German government’s Bitcoin wallet is down to 9,094 Bitcoin — just 18% of what it started with — after the latest string of back-and-forth transfers to crypto exchanges on July 11.

The wallet, which has been holding Bitcoin seized from a film pirating website crackdown in January, has transferred out billions in Bitcoin since June 19 but ramped up efforts at the start of July.

On July 11, the wallet briefly dipped below 5,000 BTC after sending 10,620 BTC worth around $615 million to cryptocurrency trading platforms Coinbase, Bitstamp, Kraken, Flow Traders and two anonymous addresses, blockchain intelligence firm Arkham noted.

However, shortly after, some of those funds were transferred back to the German government wallet, which brought Germany’s Bitcoin holdings back above 9,000 BTC.

The current tally means the German government only holds 18% of the 49,857 Bitcoin it seized from film piracy website Movie2k in January.

Arkham believes the two anonymous addresses ending in “139Po” and “bc1qu” are likely owned by institutional deposit or over-the-counter trading service providers. However, that hasn’t been confirmed.

Germany’s mass sell-off hasn’t sat well with German lawmaker and Bitcoin activist Joana Cotar, who argued earlier in July that Bitcoin could have instead been adopted as a “strategic reserve currency” to shield against risks in the traditional system.

One Ordinals user seemingly voiced their own frustrations on an inscription, which translates to “Taxes are robbery.”

The sell-off, combined with worries Mt. Gox has started to distribute more than $8 billion of Bitcoin to its creditors, has largely fueled a BTC price slump in recent weeks.

The bearish events have contributed to the Crypto Fear & Greed Index — an indicator tracking market sentiment — falling into the “Extreme Fear” zone for the first time since January 2023.

Bitcoin trades at $56,870 at the time of writing, down 1.8% over the last 24 hours and 15.1% over the last month.

Source : Cointelegraph - Jul 12, 2024