The German government has recently transferred 1,300 BTC to the exchanges Bitstamp, Coinbase, and Kraken. This marks the largest amount of Bitcoin moved to centralized exchanges (CEX) by German authorities in recent times. On the afternoon of July 4th, data from the on-chain analytics platform Arkham revealed that the German government transferred a total of 1,300 BTC from their wallets to Bitstamp, Coinbase, and Kraken.

 Specifically, they moved 400 BTC to Coinbase, 500 BTC to Bitstamp, and 400 BTC to Kraken at a Bitcoin price of $57,800, amounting to approximately $75.53 million. This transfer is the largest deposit to CEX by German authorities in recent memory.

Statistics on transactions of Bitcoin wallets controlled by German authorities. Source: Arkham (July 4, 2024)

Additionally, the same wallet transferred another 1,700 BTC (valued at $100 million) to an unidentified address, raising the total value moved on July 4th to $175 million.

Since their initial transfer on June 19th, German officials have moved a total of 3,650 BTC to exchanges. This is part of the 50,000 BTC they seized from the illegal streaming site Movie2k. Currently, these wallets still hold 40,359 BTC, equivalent to $2.33 billion.

Bitcoin wallet balance of the German government on the afternoon of July 4, 2024. Source: Arkham

It is highly likely that this recent transfer will also be liquidated, similar to the transactions on June 20th, 25th, 26th, and July 1st.

This news from Arkham comes as Bitcoin’s price has seen a 5% drop within 24 hours, now trading around $56,950, the lowest level in nearly two months.

H-chart of the BTC/USDT pair on Binance at 05:05 PM on July 4, 2024

Continuing his “market rescue” tradition, crypto mogul Justin Sun has expressed his willingness to negotiate with the German authorities to purchase their Bitcoin holdings to minimize market impact. However, as seen in previous incidents involving FTX, Credit Suisse, DCG, and the liquidity crisis of mid-2022, such statements are often made to stir up debate in the crypto community rather than materialize into action. In February 2024, Justin Sun disclosed that he holds $1.6 billion worth of Bitcoin on his exchange, HTX.