The German government has started selling a significant Bitcoin stash seized from the operators of a movie piracy website. More than $195 million worth of Bitcoin has been sold in the past 24 hours. The latest transactions likely saw $65 million worth of Bitcoin deposited on exchanges, adding to the $130 million moved the day before. Despite these sales, the German government still owns approximately $3.05 billion worth of Bitcoin.
The move is part of a recent trend of large-scale Bitcoin transactions by German authorities, with significant amounts being transferred to major exchanges such as Coinbase, Kraken and Bitstamp, signaling further sales. The nearly 50,000 Bitcoins, originally seized from the operators of Movie2k.to, a movie piracy site last active in 2013, were handed over to the German Federal Criminal Police (BKA) in January following a voluntary surrender by the suspects.
The sales have already impacted Bitcoin’s market price, which has fallen as a result of these significant sales. Bitcoin’s price has fallen by around 0.67% over the past 24 hours and is now around $64,723, adding to a decline of almost 3% over the past seven days.
Despite the German government’s sell-off, companies like MicroStrategy remain optimistic. The software company recently purchased $786 million worth of Bitcoin, expanding its significant holdings. This acquisition followed the raising of $800 million through convertible senior notes.
