13,000 Bitcoins seized by Germany and the US were sent to various exchanges

The governments of the United States and Germany have drawn the market’s attention. In the last two weeks, these countries have sent more than 12,000 bitcoin (BTC) to different cryptocurrency exchanges, with the apparent intention of liquidating them.

According to the data collected by the analysis firm Arkham Intelligence, between both nations USD 737 million worth of BTC were sent in the last few days to Coinbase, Bitstamp and Kraken, which are major cryptocurrency exchanges today.

Of that amount, at least 75% was sent by Germany, a member country of the European Union that has been responsible for transferring 7,828 BTC to cryptocurrency exchanges, as apparent efforts to liquidate these currencies on the market. The German government’s Bitcoin holdings have thus been steadily declining.

Arkham details that the deposits of these BTC in the exchanges have been made in a distributed manner, in 30 different transactions, generally, when the day begins in Germany.

According to the firm, these BTC sent from Germany were valued at USD 496.4 million at the time of transfer. That is, they were transferred when BTC had an average price of USD 63,400.

This Thursday, July 4, new movements have been recorded in the wallets of the German government. Arkham indicates that, in the last few hours, That country has sold USD 175 million in BTC. In detail, he moved 1,300 BTC (USD 76 million) to be traded on the Kraken, Bitstamp and Coinbase exchanges.

They also moved 1,700 BTC (USD 99 million) to another address. They indicate that those funds are likely to be deposited in an institutional service. or an over-the-counter exchange.

So far, the German government is holding more than 40,300 bitcoins, according to data from this analysis firm. These funds are valued at more than USD 2.3 billion, approximately.

The United States also moves bitcoin to exchanges

Across the Atlantic, in the United States, the situation looks the same. Although this country accounts for 30% of BTC transfers to exchanges in recent days, Arkham Intelligence reported that a single deposit of 3,940 BTC was made from the government of that nation to Coinbase Prime, the exchange’s service for institutions and large investors, on June 26.

It is possible that these BTC sent to Coinbase are those seized from drug dealer Banmeet Singh, who was captured in April 2024. At that time, These coins were valued at more than USD 240 million.

Knowing exactly how much BTC has been liquidated through the US is complicated because not all transactions are easy to track. Some deposits, such as those made to Coinbase, can be traced. Others, however, can be sent from a variety of addresses, making it difficult to follow up, as seen below.

As in the German case, for several days now the US government’s bitcoin holdings have risen to 213,297 BTC, have been steadily declining.

As an example, the US balance sheet went, in a matter of two days, from USD 14 billion in bitcoin to just over USD 12.5 billion valued in this digital currency.

It is not clear what is behind the move by the US and German governments to bitcoin exchanges, however, These actions often precede market sell-offs. Given the magnitude of the BTC sales, if they are confirmed, it is likely that there will be some impact on the market.

In fact, at the time of writing, bitcoin fell below $58,000, breaking the support it had above $60,000. Government moves to exchanges influenced this fall, as well as other key factors, How the US BTC Spot ETFs Perform and the impending release of 140,000 BTC that were held by the bankrupt Mt. Gox exchange for about a decade.