Is the German Government Embracing the "Sell, Sell, Sell" Mode? A Review of BTC Holdings and Sales by Various Governments

Lila

2024-06-28 16:39

Read this article in 13 Minutes

AI summary

View the summary

Latest Update: Entering July, the German government has once again initiated a selling spree. Between July 1 and 13, the German government transferred over 40,000 BTC to market makers and exchanges such as Flow Traders, Bitstamp, and Kraken.

As of the early morning of July 13, according to Arkham Monitoring, after the German government sent 3846.05 BTC (approximately $223.81 million) to Flow Traders and 139Po (potentially an institutional deposit/OTC trading service), the Bitcoin balance in the "German Government" address has been depleted. The current balance in the address is 0. The following is the original content:

In early June, a wallet labeled as the "German Government" began transferring BTC seized from the operator of the pirated movie website Movie2k to trading platforms. Similarly, on June 27, after a year of inactivity, the US government's BTC holding wallet also sent 4000 BTC to Coinbase, signaling a potential start of a selling spree. On the other hand, the Mt.Gox reimbursement progress has once again been put on the agenda, with BTC and BCH repayments set to begin in July.

In fact, based on incomplete data, since 2018, the governments of China, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Germany have confiscated over 500,000 BTC from hackers, money launderers, and other criminals. Mt.Gox currently holds 140,000 BTC, which accounts for 3.32% of the circulating Bitcoin supply.

Although currently, governments tend to sell BTC in batches and in small quantities, because these countries are not inherently crypto-friendly, the eventual handling of their BTC holdings is highly likely to involve selling. Therefore, many users are very concerned about their holdings.

BlockBeats will provide a simple list in this article of the current BTC holdings and sales situation of major institutions and governments, as well as how to track their addresses for monitoring purposes, for readers' reference.

Governments' Holdings and Sales Status

German Government - 45,000 BTC

Prior holding of 50,000 BTC, as of the time of writing, approximately 4736 BTC have been sold in batches in June, leaving 45,000 BTC. On June 25, 200 BTC each were transferred to Coinbase and Kraken; on June 26, an additional 700 BTC were moved to Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitstamp, but on June 27, 145 BTC were transferred back to an on-chain address.

U.S. Government—210,000 BTC

Compared to other countries, the U.S. government holds the largest amount of Bitcoin and has been relatively cautious in its dealings. Between November 2020 and 2022, U.S. authorities seized a total of over 210,000 BTC in three separate actions, which were related to the dark web market Silk Road, Silk Road hacker Jimmy Zhong, and the Bitfinex exchange hack. Related Read: "Bitcoin Dark Web Saga: Unveiling the Dual Life of Jimmy Zhong".

The U.S. government has a long history of selling Bitcoin. However, since July 2023 to March 2024, the U.S. government has not sold any Bitcoin. On-chain records show that the most recent sale was on June 27th when the U.S. government address sent 4,000 BTC to Coinbase Prime.

As of the time of writing, the U.S. government still holds 213,546 BTC.

U.K. Government—61,000 BTC

The Bitcoin holdings of the U.K. government mainly stem from the infamous "Blue Sky Gridlock" case. According to data, the U.K. government holds approximately 61,000 BTC, and as of the time of writing, there have been no outgoing transactions. Related Read: "World's Largest Money Laundering Case: Over 61,000 BTC Seized, Mastermind Evades $6.3B Still".

Chinese Government—194,000 BTC

The BTC holdings of the Chinese government stem from the infamous 2020 PlusToken Ponzi scheme, where approximately 194,000 BTC were confiscated. However, no on-chain address tags were found, making it difficult to confirm any sell-off records.

The presence of "whale" entities at the national government level is significant. However, data shows that the largest single sale of Bitcoin by the U.S. in one instance was in March 2023, where they sold 9,861 BTC for $216 million. If government sales continue in a "small amounts, multiple times" fashion, the impact on market sentiment and price may be lesser.

Mt.Gox—140,000 Coins

In addition to the above-mentioned government holdings posing a major hidden danger in the market, this year, the exchange Mt.Gox, which declared bankruptcy ten years ago, has also made it clear that it will start repaying BTC and BCH. According to Mt.Gox's disclosed data, its address holds a total of 141,685 BTC to be used for compensation repayment.

On May 28, Mt.Gox's account addresses conducted 10 consecutive transactions totaling 141,685 bitcoins. This is the first action by Mt. Gox's cold wallet in five years, arousing high community attention. According to a recent email announcement from Nobuaki Kobayashi, the repayment will start in July 2024. This is Mt.Gox's first repayment in the form of BTC and BCH, meaning that the 141,686 BTC held by Mt.Gox (along with a similar amount of BCH) will start flowing into the market. These BTC account for 0.72% of the total Bitcoin circulating supply, worth approximately $8.54 billion.

Previously, BlockBeats interviewed Mindao, one of Mt.Gox's creditors, who stated, "Because most creditors have already sold their money to those funds, so this part of the selling pressure has long been hedged. Those of us who have been holding on until the end will definitely not sell at this time." Related reading: "6-Hour Transfer of 140,000 Bitcoins, Will Mt.Gox's Compensation Payment Trigger Significant Selling Pressure?", "Mt.Gox Token Repayment to Begin in July, Things to Know in Advance"

On June 24, Galaxy Research Director Alex Thorn wrote on the X platform that the final allocation of tokens in the Mt.Gox bankruptcy case will be less than people imagine, and the Bitcoin selling pressure caused by Mt.Gox will be less than expected.

Other Institutions' BTC Holdings

In addition to governments, companies such as Tesla, MicroStrategy, and others hold BTC. After the approval of BTC ETF spot trading, companies like BlackRock and Fidelity that have opened BTC ETF investment funds have also joined the ranks of holders. As there have been many related statistical articles before, the holdings and address tracking methods of the above-mentioned companies will not be elaborated in this text. Related reading can be found in: "Unveiling Bitcoin's Top Holders: Global Wallet Address Analysis and Holdings"

Remain Optimistic in the Second Half of the Year, Patience for Positive News to Unfold

In June, the market experienced a sharp decline, which had a certain impact on investor confidence. However, the long-term outlook for cryptocurrency remains optimistic. The long-awaited ETH ETF is about to arrive; the interest rate cut positive news has not yet been implemented; presidential candidates Trump and Biden have successively announced that they will accept cryptocurrency donations in a show of goodwill toward the cryptocurrency market. Various signs indicate that, with global economic changes, cryptocurrency has already established a presence in emerging economies. The second half of 2024 holds even greater promise. Related reading: "Cryptocurrency Market Outlook for the Second Half of the Year: Multiple Positive Factors such as the Election, Interest Rate Cut, etc., are yet to Unfold. A New Era may emerge after the Revolution".

The bull market is far from over, please be patient for the market's recovery.