German Government Runs Out Of Bitcoin: Wallet Empty As Massive Sell-Off Finally Ends

After weeks of sending billions worth of Bitcoin to exchanges and market makers, the wallets linked to the German government hit a balance of zero as of Friday afternoon. The relentless selling has arguably suppressed the price of Bitcoin below the $60,000 psychological mark.

Germany’s BTC Selling Spree Concludes, Easing Lingering Market Jitters

The German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) sold the last of its Bitcoin holdings on July 12, as per on-chain data compiled by blockchain analytics platform Arkham Intelligence.

Earlier on Friday, the European nation’s wallet sent Bitcoin to crypto exchanges like Bitstamp, Coinbase, and Kraken, as well as to Cumberland DRW and an unidentified OTC service address. The last transaction included 3,846 BTC sent to “Flow Traders and 139Po,” which Arkham described as “likely institutional deposit/OTC service.”

The German state of Saxony has been liquidating the 50,000 Bitcoins it confiscated earlier this year from the now-defunct film piracy website Movie2K.

The state held around $3.4 billion worth of BTC one month ago, with roughly $2.9 billion as of July 1. Germany’s Bitcoin sell-off really started fervently on July 8, however, when its wallets still held $2.1 billion in BTC. At least one German lawmaker criticized the BTC dumping strategy, but it appears that her advice fell on deaf ears. Now, the Eurozone’s largest economy has zero BTC left. 

The selling spree by German law enforcement coupled with the reimbursements to Mt. Gox’s creditors, is the key reason market observers pinpointed behind the latest crypto market retracement. Over the last two weeks, BTC plunged from the $63,000 zone to as low as $54,000. Despite rebounding above the $58,000 level as of publication time, the largest cryptocurrency by market cap still has to overcome some key price resistance levels to resume its uptrend.

Notably, now that part of the supply overhang is gone, Bitcoin could regain bullish momentum. BTC is up 3.3% on the week, including 1.5% over the last 24 hours, at a current value of roughly $58,819 as of this writing.