The German government has commenced the sale of a significant Bitcoin stash seized from the operators of a movie piracy website. Over $195 million in Bitcoin was sold in the past 24 hours. In the latest transactions, $65 million worth of Bitcoin was likely deposited into exchanges, adding to the $130 million moved the previous day. Despite these sales, the German government still holds approximately $3.05 billion in Bitcoin.
This move is part of a recent trend of large-scale Bitcoin transactions by German authorities, with substantial funds being transferred to major exchanges like Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitstamp, hinting at further sales. The nearly 50,000 Bitcoin, originally seized from the operators of Movie2k.to, a film piracy site last active in 2013, were handed over to the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) in January following a voluntary surrender by the suspects.
The sale has already impacted Bitcoin’s market price, which has slipped due to these significant sales. Bitcoin’s price has dropped about 0.67% over the past 24 hours, now sitting around $64,723, contributing to a nearly 3% decline over the past 7 days.
Despite the German government’s sell-off, companies like MicroStrategy continue to show bullishness. The software firm recently purchased $786 million worth of Bitcoin, expanding its significant holdings. This acquisition followed the raising of $800 million through convertible senior notes.