- Saxony has sold close to 75% of the nearly 50,000 BTC seized from Movie2k.to, with only 15,552 remaining.
- Despite criticism, Saxony proceeds with Bitcoin sales due to legal and procedural obligations.
- Meanwhile, US Spot Bitcoin ETFs benefit, buying nearly as much BTC as Saxony sells, signalling strong investor interest.
Depending on which source you look at, the German Bitcoin selling is more than halfway through completion.
Related: Australian Lawyers Warn Celebrities of SEC Action for Unlicensed Sale of Memecoins on Solana
The BTC had been seized earlier this year as part of a criminal sting on movie pirating site Movie2k.to. In total almost 50,000 BTC had been obtained – of which now only 15,552 BTC are held in the government wallet, as data from Arkham shows.
The crypto community has reacted with anger and hostility at the Bitcoin sales. One questioned the timing of the sales:
While another called it the “worst geopolitical trade in history”.
And others questioned the sanity of politicians:
However, it should be noted that it’s not actually the federal government that is selling the Bitcoin – and it isn’t about a bad investment move either. Rather, the eastern German state of Saxony is the one doing the selling, with next to no involvement of the federal government. And it seems Saxony has no other choice but to sell.
Earlier this year, Saxony’s LKA seized nearly 50,000 bitcoins valued at almost US$3 billion (AU$4.5 billion) from the operator of Movie2k.to due to money laundering and illegal activities. Recently, the BKA’s wallet began transferring thousands of BTC to exchanges like Kraken, Coinbase, and Bitstamp, indicating plans to sell, reducing its holdings to 15,552 BTC.
Note that LKA refers to State Office of Criminal Investigation, whereas BKA is the Federal Criminal Police Office – the latter most likely providing operational and technical support during the sale.
Dr. Lennart Ante, CEO and co-founder of Blockchain Research Lab, said the state’s hands are tied as it follows standard procedure.
Seized assets are always liquidated within a certain period. This is a routine business process, although at a larger-than-normal scale.
Dr. Lennart AnteAs German State Sells, Spot ETFs Buy the Dip
There is a beneficiary to the sell-off though, which is unsurprisingly the US Spot Bitcoin exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Data shows these funds are scooping up BTC almost to the same tune as Saxony is selling.
The buying spree, which has seen almost half a billion US dollars flow into the funds, is not what everybody expected.
Related: Santiment: Bitcoin’s Recent Dip Precedes Major Bullish Shift as Historical Data Suggests Imminent Profit Surge
Such buying indicates that institutional and possibly more sophisticated retail investors are still interested in Bitcoin, despite the common perception that such products mainly attract speculative retail investors.
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