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Germany’s $2.8B Bitcoin (BTC) Dump Is ‘Market Intervention’, Despite Obscure Legal Justifications
Germany May Have Finally Found a Legal Reason for Giving Away Nearly $3 Billion in Bitcoin (BTC) on the free market, but industry experts are not convinced by this reasoning.
Germany seized around 50,000 bitcoins from cryptocurrency operator Film2k.toa website that the state of Saxony has found guilty of money laundering and other illegal activities. The state, with the help of Frankfurt-based German securities trading bank Bankhaus Scheich Wertpapierspezialist AG and the Federal Criminal Police Office, sold about 49,858 bitcoins between June 19 and July 12, securing €2.6 billion ($2.8 billion), according to a declaration on Wednesday.
The motion perplexed traders and put a lot of pressure on the price of bitcoin while authorities remained silent on the reasons behind the sell-off. The selling pressure was intensified at the time as the market was also wary of mass sell-offs. sale by creditors of Mt. Gox and faster liquidations by bitcoin miners.
Prices bottomed out earlier this month at around $53,500 after Saxony completed its liquidation process, but not before wreaking havoc on the market as BTC fell by more than 7% in June.
When authorities finally issued a statement this week, the process was called a “market-friendly sale” that “was gentle on the market.” The statement said that “a fair market price was always achieved” and asserted that “at this scale, there is no direct influence on the price of bitcoin.”
However, some experts are not convinced.
Romina Bungert, an advisor to Enzyme and former CFO of Centrifuge, told CoinDesk, “This is a perfect example of the kind of inadvertent malicious activity based on a lack of competence that can come from governments and authorities.” She added, “The way they handled this sell-off has moved the market and its intervention in the public market. … So who will now have an incentive to hold this national authority accountable? Not the state.”
In an email to CoinDesk, Patrick Pintaske, attorney and press spokesman for the head of the Special Procedures Division (UA BV), said: “The emergency sale regulated by law means that we cannot wait to see if and how the market value will change. The economic value of the seized assets should be preserved as much as possible for later judicial confiscation.”
The German regulator may have justified its decision to sell, but market observers have questioned the timing of the sale and the benefits to taxpayers.
Philipp Hartmannsgruber, a Bitcoin (BTC) expert who is not convinced by the rationale laid out in Wednesday’s statement, said the sale netted about €600 million more than the BTC was worth when it was seized in January. “How much could the taxpayer have earned if the bitcoin had been held long-term? At the current exchange rate of around €60,000 for bitcoin, it would be worth about €390 million more today.”
Hartmannsgruber, who regularly advises politicians and authorities as a member of the board of the Blockchain Bundesverband e.V. (German Blockchain Association), specifically argued that the sale should not have been carried out “during the announcement that up to 140,000 bitcoins worth around $7.7 billion from the Mt. Gox case would hit the market,” although he stressed that perfect timing is never possible.
Hartmannsgruber also asked the authorities to identify the sources behind their claim that “less than one percent of the bitcoin market volume was regularly traded over-the-counter (OTC) and had “no direct influence on the price of bitcoin.”
“This may not be the case on July 8, 2024, when up to 16,309 BTC were sold for around €830 million,” he said. “If 16,300 bitcoins are sold in one day, this can have a huge impact under certain circumstances.”
The statement said the authorities had no choice but to sell. However, some experts point to a gray area because the boundaries of when an emergency sale is required seem a little less clear. The court did not require the sale of bitcoin because the statement said the proceeding was only “provisionally secured” because the court concerned has not yet made a decision on confiscation that becomes legally binding.
The decision, the statement said, was made because “the sale of valuables prior to the conclusion of ongoing criminal proceedings is required by law whenever there is a risk of a significant loss of value of approximately ten percent or more.” It also argued that, given the volatility of the bitcoin market, “these conditions have always been met.”
And, in fact, the value of bitcoin drops by 10% in short periods of time quite often.
GSK lawyer and partner Timo Bernau said the authorities had relied on a general principle from legal precedent to justify their sale. “In German law, there is a general ban on speculation for public authorities. This ban on speculation with public funds stems from the budgetary principle of economic efficiency and economy,” Bernau said. pointing to a 2017 ruling by the Federal Court of Justice.
Bungert noted that there was a legal “gray line” because “the rules for this government agency on the management of digital assets are not covered by the existing set of rules.” Hartmannsgruber argued that authorities cited Section 111p of the Code of Criminal Procedure to suggest they had no choice but to sell the bitcoins. However, the law states that after “an item that has been seized … may be sold if there is a risk of its deterioration or significant loss of value.”
“The law therefore does not provide for an obligation, but simply an opportunity to sell. It is therefore questionable whether the divestment was legally required,” Hartmannsgruber said.
“Although there are legal reasons why the Attorney General’s Office acted in this way, if it was not obligated to do so, the question arises as to why it nevertheless acted in this way and why it presented its actions as an alleged duty.”
Omkar Godbole contributed to this report.
News
Cryptocurrency Price August 1: Bitcoin Dips Below $65K; Solana, XRP Down Up To 8%
Major cryptocurrencies fell in Thursday trading following the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep its key interest rate unchanged. Overnight, the U.S. Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate at 5.25-5.5% for the eighth consecutive time, as expected, while also signaling the possibility of a rate cut at its next meeting in September. The unanimous decision by the Federal Open Market Committee reflects a continued wait-and-see approach as it monitors inflation trends.
CoinSwitch Markets Desk said: “Bitcoin has fallen below $65,000 after the US Federal Reserve announced it would keep interest rates unchanged. However, with markets now anticipating rate cuts at the next Federal Reserve meeting in September, the outlook for a Bitcoin rally by the end of the year has strengthened.”
Meanwhile, CoinDCX research team said: “The crypto market has plunged after the Fed decision. Tomorrow’s US unemployment rate announcement is expected to induce more volatility, with the ‘actual’ figure coming in higher than the ‘expected’ one, which is positive for cryptocurrencies.”
At 12:21 pm IST, Bitcoin (BTC) was down 3.2% at $64,285, while Ethereum was down nearly 4.5% at $3,313. Meanwhile, the global market cryptocurrency The market capitalization fell 3.6% to around $2.3 trillion in the last 24 hours.
“Bitcoin needs to clear its 200-day EMA at $64,510 to consolidate further. Otherwise, a retest of $62,000 could be in the cards,” said Vikram Subburaj, CEO of Giottus.
Altcoins and meme coins, such as BNB (3%), Solana (8%), XRP (5.7%), Dogecoin (5%), Cardano (4.6%), Avalanche (4.3%), Shiba Inu (3.8%), Polkadot (3.4%), and Chainlink (4%) also saw declines.
The volume of all stablecoins is now $71.64 billion, which is 92.19% of the total cryptocurrency market volume in 24 hours, according to data available on CoinMarketCap. Bitcoin’s dominance is currently 54.99%. BTC volume in the last 24 hours increased by 23.3% to $35.7 billion.
(Disclaimer: Recommendations, suggestions, opinions and views provided by experts are personal. They do not represent the views of the Economic Times)
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Altcoins WIF, BONK, RUNE, JUP Down 10% While Bitcoin Drops 4%
Altcoins dogwifhat, Bonk, THORChain, and Jupiter have suffered losses of more than 10%, while Bitcoin is down 4% in the last 24 hours.
After a period of relative calm yesterday, July 31, Bitcoin (BTC) price action has seen a drastic change as the cryptocurrency dropped by more than $3,500, bringing its value to $63,300. At the same time, altcoins mirrored this trend, with the total value of liquidated positions rising to nearly $225 million over the course of the day.
Initially, the week started on a positive note for Bitcoin, which reached its highest point since early June, hitting $70,000. However, this peak was short-lived, as it was quickly rejected, leading to a substantial decline, with Bitcoin falling below $65,500.
The cryptocurrency managed to regain some stability, trading comfortably at around $66,800. However, following a Press conference According to Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell, the value of Bitcoin has fallen again to $64,300, down more than 3% in 24 hours.
BTC Price Chart 24 Hours | Source: crypto.news
The recession coincided with a relationship from the New York Times stating that Iran had called for retaliatory measures against Israel following the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, increasing the risk of further conflict in the region.
Meanwhile, on the economic front, the Federal Reserve decided to keep its benchmark interest rates in place, offering little information on a planned September rate cut. Powell also hinted that while no concrete decisions have been made on the September adjustment, there is growing consensus that a rate cut is likely.
Amid Bitcoin’s decline, altcoins have suffered even more significant losses. For example, dogwifhat (Wife) saw a 12.4% drop and (DISGUST) has suffered a 10% drop. Other altcoins such as THORChain (RUNE) also fell by 10%, while Jupiter (JUPITER) and the Ethereum naming service (ENS) decreased by 8% and 9% respectively.
Among the largest-cap cryptocurrencies, the biggest losers are Solana (SOL) with a decrease of 8%, (Exchange rate risk) down 6%, Cardano (ADA) down 4%, and both Ethereum (ETH) and Dogecoin (DOGE) recording a decrease of 4.4%.
Data from CoinGlass indicates that approximately 67,000 traders have been negatively impacted by this increased volatility. BTC positions have seen $61.85 million in liquidations, while ETH positions have faced $61 million. In total, the value of liquidated positions stands at $225.4 million at the time of writing.
News
Riot Platforms Sees 52% Drop in Bitcoin Production in Q2
Bitcoin mining firm Riot Platforms has released its second-quarter financial results, highlighting a decline in cryptocurrency mined due to the recent halving.
Colorado-based Bitcoin (BTC) mining company Riot platforms revealed its second quarter financial results, highlighting a significant reduction in mined cryptocurrencies attributed to the recent halving event that took place in early April.
The company reported total revenue of $70 million for the quarter ended July 31, a decline of 8.7% compared to the same period in 2023. Riot Platforms attributed the revenue decline primarily to a $9.7 million decrease in engineering revenue, which was partially mitigated by a $6 million increase in Bitcoin extraction income.
During the quarter, the company mined 844 BTC, representing a decline of over 50% from Q2 2023, citing the halving event and increasing network difficulty as major factors behind the decline. Riot Platforms reported a net loss of $84.4 million, or $0.32 per share, missing Zacks Research forecast a loss of $0.16 per share.
Halving increases competitive pressure
The Colorado-based firm said the average cost of mining one BTC in the second quarter, including energy credits, rose to $25,327, a remarkable 341% increase from $5,734 per BTC in the same quarter of 2023. Despite this significant increase in production costs, the firm remains optimistic about maintaining competitiveness through recent deals.
For example, following the Recent acquisition Cryptocurrency firm Block Mining, Riot has increased its distributed hash rate forecast from 31 EH/s to 36 EH/s by the end of 2024, while also increasing its 2025 forecast from 40 EH/s to 56 EH/s.
Riot Platforms Hashrate Growth Projections by 2027 | Source: Riot Platforms
Commenting on the company’s financials, Riot CEO Jason Les said that despite the halving, the mining company still managed to achieve “significant operational growth and execution of our long-term strategy.”
“Despite this reduction in production available to all Bitcoin miners, Riot reported $70 million in revenue for the quarter and maintained strong gross margins in our core Bitcoin mining business.”
Jason Les
Following its Q2 financial report, Riot Platforms shares fell 1.74% to $10.19, according to Google Finance data. Meanwhile, the American miner continues to chase Canadian rival Bitfarms, recently acquiring an additional 10.2 million BITF shares, increasing its stake in Bitfarms to 15.9%.
As previously reported by crypto.news, Riot was the first announced a $950 million takeover bid for Bitfarms in late May, arguing that Bitfarms’ founders were not acting in the best interests of all shareholders. They said their proposal was rejected by Bitfarms’ board without substantive engagement.
In response, Bitfarms She said that Riot’s offer “significantly understates” its growth prospects. Bitfarms subsequently implemented a shareholder rights plan, also known as a “poison pill,” to protect its strategic review process from hostile takeover attempts.
News
Aave Price Increases Following Whales Accumulation and V3.1 Launch
Decentralized finance protocol Aave is seeing a significant spike in whale activity as the market looks to recover from the recent crash that pushed most altcoins into key support areas earlier this week.
July 31, Lookonchain shared details indicating that the whales had aggressively accumulated Aave (AAVE) over the past two days. According to the data, whales have withdrawn over 58,848 AAVE worth $6.47 million from exchanges during this period.
In one instance, whale address 0x9af4 withdrew 11,185 AAVE worth $1.23 million from Binance. Meanwhile, another address moved 21,619 AAVE worth over $2.38 million from the exchange and deposited the tokens into Aave.
These withdrawals follow a previous transfer of 26,044 AAVE from whale address 0xd7c5, amounting to over $2.83 million withdrawn from Binance.
AAVE price has surged over 7% in the past 24 hours amid buy-side pressure from these whales. The DeFi token is currently trading around $111 after jumping over 18% in the past week.
Recently, the price of AAVE increased by over 8% after Aave founder Marc Zeller announced a proposed fee change aimed at adopting a buyback program for AAVE tokens.
Aave v3.1 is available
The total value locked in the Aave protocol currently stands at around $22 billion. According to DeFiLlamaApproximately $19.9 billion is on Aave V3, while the V2 chain still holds approximately $1.9 billion in TVL and V1 approximately $14.6 million.
Aave Labs announced Previously, Aave V3.1 was made available on all networks with active Aave V3 instances.
V3.1 features improvements that are intended to improve the overall security of the DeFi protocol. The Aave DAO governance has approved the v3.1 improvements, which also include operational efficiency and usability for the network.
Meanwhile, Aave Labs recently outlined a ambitious roadmap for the projectwith a 2030 vision for Aave V4, among other developments.
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