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Germany’s decision to offload nearly 50,000 Bitcoin in July at $53,000 per coin has resulted in an estimated loss of $2.015 billion, as Bitcoin has now reached a new all-time high of $93,434.
At current prices, the 49,858 BTC sold could have been worth around $4.57 billion. The Bitcoin assets were sold between June 19 and July 12, generating roughly $2.8 billion for German authorities.
The country’s substantial Bitcoin stockpile was confiscated from Movie2k.to, a movie piracy website. In January, German police seized 50,000 BTC from the piracy website, marking it as the “most extensive security of Bitcoins by law enforcement authorities in the Federal Republic of Germany to date,” according to a press release.
Under German national law, seized assets must be sold if their market value fluctuates by more than 10% to mitigate risks from market volatility.
Additionally, 1,000 BTC and 500 BTC were sent to two unknown addresses. Later in the day, Germany’s government offloaded the last of its Bitcoin holdings, which included 3,093 Bitcoin sent to a wallet address.
On July 12, German authorities executed multiple transactions, transferring a total of 3,200 Bitcoin across several platforms, including Bitstamp, Kraken, and Coinbase, with each platform receiving 400 BTC.
In mid-June, the German government started gradually liquidating over 10,000 BTC, putting downward pressure on the cryptocurrency’s market rate.
While Donald Trump’s victory may have sparked optimism for a Bitcoin-friendly administration, experts say the real catalyst lies in the cryptocurrency’s unique supply dynamics following its April halving.
Bitcoin’s recent surge has captured headlines, but analysts argue that the primary driver is not the U.S. presidential election outcome.
The Bitcoin halving reduced block rewards from 6.25 BTC to 3.125 BTC, effectively slashing the rate of new Bitcoin entering circulation.
Myers highlighted that this supply reduction creates a “supply shock” that tightens availability at current price levels.
“Yes, the incoming administration has provided a recent catalyst… But that’s not the main story here. The main story is that we are 6+ months post-halving,” Jesse Myers, co-founder of Onramp Bitcoin, wrote in a post on X.
