Germany missed out on a profit of over $2 billion by selling its Bitcoin stash too early in 2024, according to data from blockchain analytics firm Arkham.
A wallet tagged as belonging to the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) offloaded roughly 49,858 BTC — valued at around $2.89 billion at the time — during June and July 2024. The average selling price was about $57,900 per Bitcoin.
Had the government chosen to hold instead of sell, its Bitcoin would now be worth approximately $5.24 billion, Arkham reported on X (formerly Twitter) on May 19. The cryptocurrency has surged over 80% since the sales took place.
As of writing, Bitcoin is trading above $104,700, according to CoinMarketCap.
The first signs of the sell-off appeared on June 19, 2024, when the German-tagged wallet moved 6,500 BTC — valued then at over $425 million — sparking speculation. The BTC was reportedly seized from Movie2k, a defunct platform involved in movie piracy.
Liquidity Over Long-Term Value?
Arkham’s CEO, Miguel Morel, pointed out that the transactions seemed rushed and not optimized for market efficiency. “You wouldn’t expect a government to just dump assets across several exchanges,” he said during EthCC 2024. “It looks like they were simply trying to pull as much liquidity as they could from multiple order books.”
Some analysts believe the panic surrounding these government sales may have had a greater short-term impact on market sentiment than the actual volume sold.
Bitcoin’s price climbed back above $60,000 on July 14 — just a day after the German government’s wallet was emptied — easing concerns over continued sell pressure.
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