Markets
Germany’s $3 Billion Bitcoin (BTC) Sale Nears Completion
German state of Saxony is about to run out of bitcoins (BTC) for sale after transferring another batch of its confiscated assets to crypto exchanges and brokers on Thursday.
Bitcoin wallets linked to German authorities transferred a total of 10,567 BTC worth over $600 million in multiple batches over the course of the day to crypto exchanges Bitstamp, Coinbase, Kraken, and other service providers such as Flow Traders and Cumberland DRW, blockchain data by Arkham Intelligence shows.
After today’s transactions, government-linked wallets held just 4,925 BTC worth $285 million at current prices, down from 50,000 BTC worth nearly $3 billion since they began selling the assets three weeks ago.
This means that the bitcoin selling frenzy in Germany could end as early as Friday or early next week at the current pace, given that wallets have unloaded around 35,000 BTC so far this week.
The tally could change in the final hours due to the wallet’s odd practice of receiving a portion of transferred assets, sometimes as much as $10 million, from exchanges and brokers before the end of the day. (Greg Cipolaro, head of research at digital asset manager NYDIG, called the on-chain activity “puzzling” in a Sept. 22, 2019, post. Wednesday Note.)
The imminent end of Germany’s $3 billion selling spree could ease fears among cryptocurrency investors, who have been fixated on the on-chain moves of potential big sellers in the market in recent weeks, linking the recent decline in asset prices to concerns about oversupply.
Bitcoin’s 15% correction over the past month coincided with the U.S. government, which holds more than $12 billion in seized bitcoin, transferring $240 million worth of Silk Road-linked BTC to Coinbase and the estate of the defunct Japanese exchange. Mt. Gox Begins Refunds of 140,000 BTC to creditors this month, who may want to cash in after ten years of waiting.
Fears about impending selling pressure may have been overblown, NYDIG’s Cipolaro said in a report, with bitcoin’s decline outweighing the price impact if all the potential selling materializes.