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Coinbase Germany Addresses the Real Reason the Country Invested $2.3 Billion in Bitcoin – DL News
- Coinbase Germany Head Gives His Opinion on Bitcoin Sales in the Country
- Since June 19, the German government has sold approximately $2.3 billion worth of Bitcoin.
- Germany isn’t the only country to have Bitcoin confiscated.
Fears over the continued liquidation of seized Bitcoin by the German government have caused it to fall 25% from its highs.
But Jan Sell, CEO of Coinbase Germany, advises against panic.
The sale is “not a particularly anti-crypto move,” he said in an interview with DL News. “It’s not an investment for them. It’s like they seize a car or something from people, then at some point they have to get rid of it.”
In January, Germany’s Central Criminal Investigation Agency seized 50,000 bitcoins from Movie2k.to, a movie piracy website found guilty of money laundering and other illegal activities.
The German government has transferred 40,000 Bitcoin, valued at around $2.3 billion, is trading on various cryptocurrency exchanges, including Coinbase.
Sell said that the amount Coinbase sold on behalf of the German government is “not a huge amount,” in terms of the volume generally seen by the exchange.
He revealed that Michael Saylor’s MicroStrategy, which holds about $13 billion in Bitcoin, bought “similar volumes” over a single weekend.
However, the sell-off certainly rattled investors.
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THE Cryptocurrency Fear and Greed Indexa gauge of market sentiment, fell to 26 out of 100, its lowest reading since January 2023.
And Germany isn’t the only country holding confiscated Bitcoin.
Onchain data compiled by Arkham Intelligence Shows The US government holds over $13 billion in seized Bitcoin, while UK authorities hold approximately $3.6 billion.
Governments Have Already Sold Confiscated Cryptocurrencies directly to buyers at auction. But for larger quantities it is not easy to find bidders, which leaves them with no alternative but to sell the cryptocurrency on the open market.
Investors are concerned that if more governments decide to cash in on confiscated cryptocurrencies, the market could suffer further repercussions.
‘More big sales’
Since the German government began selling its Bitcoin on June 19, the leading cryptocurrency has struggled to recover.
Since July 4, Bitcoin has been trading below $60,000.
Sell said, however, that he did not believe that the German government’s selling was the sole cause of the decline.
“There are other large sales going on right now,” he said without providing further details.
One concern is the distribution of Bitcoin from Mt. Gox, the Japanese cryptocurrency exchange that was hacked in 2014.
The dormant exchange is expected to return more than 140,000 bitcoins, worth about $8 billion, to victims this month.
Many beneficiaries are expected to cash in.
Since Mt. Gox suspended trading more than 10 years ago, Bitcoin has increased in value by more than 10,000%.
Tim Craig is a DeFi Correspondent at DL News. Got a tip? Email him at tim@dlnews.com.