The United States and German governments are the highlights of the latest crypto news after selling millions of seized cryptocurrencies.
According to on-chain reports, the German government carried out massive Bitcoin (BTC) transfers, while the U.S. government moved some of their seized Ether (ETH) tokens to different wallets.
Apparently, this recent development has raised many questions.
Massive Germany Bitcoin Sale
According to data from Arkham Intelligence, the German government transferred 1,500 BTC, valued at approximately $95 million, to multiple crypto exchanges on July 1st.
This brings the total amount of BTC transferred by the German government over the last two weeks to around 2,700 BTC.
Bitstamp, Coinbase, and Kraken are reported as the three major exchanges where these Bitcoin transactions occurred.
Germany's government currently owns 44,692 BTC, which is valued at $2.82 billion, with an impressive unrealized profit of $961 million.
It seems that the recent sale of Bitcoins by Germany has had a small effect on the price of Bitcoin, leading to a decrease of over 1.5% to $61.9k at the current moment.
Cryptos Transferred By the US
The latest transfers also involved the United States government.
According to Arkham intelligence data, the government sent 3,375 ETH, valued at $11.75 million, to an undisclosed address.
It was reported that the transfers originated from funds seized from Estonian crypto entrepreneurs Sergei Potapenko and Ivan Turogin.
Furthermore, on June 30th, the US government also transferred 11.84 BTC, worth around $743,000, from another seized funds address.
Apparently, Arkham also reported the US government making a massive transfer of 3,940 BTC ($240M) to Coinbase Prime, which affected the US Bitcoin holdings in this particular wallet address.
According to their post on X, “This BTC was originally seized from narcotics trafficker Banmeet Singh and forfeited at trial in January 2024.”
Update: US Government Sends $240M BTC to Coinbase Prime
— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) June 26, 2024
The US Government just moved 3,940 BTC ($240M) to Coinbase Prime.
This BTC was originally seized from narcotics trafficker Banmeet Singh, and forfeited at trial in January 2024.
Transaction: https://t.co/hZ1CwqWCmF pic.twitter.com/9t6k8Wdizq
Why are Germany and the US Offloading their Cryptocurrencies?
Germany seems to be the one more poised to sell their assets than the US government.
A wallet linked with the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) moved $24 million worth of Bitcoin to Coinbase and Kraken.
Additionally, there were previous transactions of $130 million in BTC to exchanges on June 19 and $65 million on June 20.
Arkham CEO Miguel More says Germany is more inclined to sell off their holdings, judging from the pattern of their transfers.
This could result from The Markets in Crypto-Assets Regulation (MiCA) recently adopted by the European Union.
The introduction of this regulation will affect transactions on stablecoins and the general crypto market.
On the other hand, the Ethereum transfers from the US government look more like a routine ETH fund management.
Vijay Pravin, CEO of bitsCrunch, spoke on the recent transfers and said they could affect the crypto market.
“I think it is the market waking up to potential downside risk. There’s caution in the air among investors that large-scale disposals by the German and U.S. governments could potentially trigger a more pronounced downturn in Bitcoin’s price. If that happens, we could see a higher selling pressure and increased volatility,” he said.