German Authorities Trigger Bitcoin Price Drop with Massive Sell-Off

On July 11, German authorities made headlines by selling 10,567 BTC valued at $600 million. This sale has contributed to an 18% decrease in Bitcoin’s price over the past month. The liquidation also coincided with sell-offs from other entities, including Mt. Gox and Genesis Trading.

Details of the Bitcoin Sell-Off

As of 1:00 p.m. EST on Thursday, July 11, the wallets linked to German authorities held 4,925 BTC, worth approximately $285 million. This represents a drastic reduction from the 50,000 BTC, valued at nearly $3 billion, that they possessed three weeks ago. Since Germany began their Bitcoin liquidation, the cryptocurrency’s value has corrected by roughly 18%.

Blockchain data from Arkham Intelligence revealed that German authorities transferred the 10,567 BTC to exchanges such as Bitstamp, Coinbase, and Kraken. Earlier in June, crypto.news reported that the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) had seized around 50,000 BTC from the operators of the piracy movie website Movie2k.to back in 2013. The BKA obtained the Bitcoin in mid-January after a “voluntary transfer” from the suspects.

Tron founder Justin Sun recently suggested purchasing the country’s Bitcoin to mitigate further market damage. Although Germany’s sell-off seems to be nearing its end, other significant entities are still preparing to liquidate their BTC holdings.

Mt. Gox, once the largest Bitcoin exchange until its collapse in 2014, has started repaying its creditors. This repayment process involves over 140,000 BTC, 143,000 Bitcoin Cash, and 69 billion Japanese yen, amounting to roughly $9 billion. The anticipated liquidation of these assets continues to create uncertainty in the market.