Has the German government been selling, buying, or repurchasing Bitcoin as of late? Recent transfers from their wallet to known addresses have been generating scary headlines and sparking fears of a selloff in the market.

According to data from blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence, Germany appears to have first sold, and then subsequently purchased Bitcoin from exchanges. Are these actions part of a of psyop, price manipulation, or just a mistake?

Germany Sells?

In a previous article, we covered that Germany had transferred thousands of their Bitcoins to crypto exchanges Coinbase, Bitstamp and Kraken. This ignited concerns that the country may start selling off large portions of their Bitcoin and crash the market.

Since then, German MP Joana Cotar spoke out on X against her government's apparent decision to sell Bitcoin, and advocated for holding it as a reserve asset instead.

Instead of holding #Bitcoin as a strategic reserve currency, as is already being debated in the USA, our government is selling on a large scale. I informed (...) why this is not only not sensible, but counterproductive

https://x.com/JoanaCotar/status/1808888782738911614

While we can see on Arkham's website or a public block explorer that Germany has transferred some of their Bitcoin to exchanges, we cannot verify that the Bitcoin was actually sold once it arrived there.

Germany Buys?

A few days later Germany made headlines again, only this time because they appeared to be buying Bitcoin instead of selling it.

As per Arkham Intelligence, the German government received close to two thousand Bitcoin from crypto exchanges.

https://x.com/Silkroute17/status/1809195824238203382

This led to humorous speculation on X that the government's actions could be part of a psyop, or a pump n' dump scheme. This despite the fact that they appear to have sold at the bottom, and re-purchased at a higher price.

Again, we cannot verify that the Bitcoin transferred back to Germany's wallet was actually purchased on the exchanges, or if it was simply a withdrawal of the previously deposited Bitcoin.

In an attempt to stabilize the market (or possibly as a publicity stunt), Justin Sun posted to X that he would purchase over-the-counter (OTC) whatever quantity of Bitcoin the German government wanted to sell.

https://x.com/justinsuntron/status/1808828661401072092

Analyzing the data on Arkham's website, we can see Bitcoin moving from Germany's wallet to some unidentified addresses, indicating that the government could be making some OTC sales of their Bitcoin, alleviating sell pressure on the market.

Mounting Fears

The news of Germany's selling comes around the same time that defunct crypto exchange Mount Gox transferred 47,000 Bitcoin to a new wallet address in preparation to repay their creditors.

This large transfer could have triggered part of the recent market selloff. However, the fear is likely to be overblown, as customers have had around ten years to sell their claims if they wanted to.

Questions

This drama over Germany's Bitcoin poses some interesting questions:

• Can we root for our country and Bitcoin at the same time, or is crypto adoption a threat to the traditional nation state?
• Could we see countries split up due to crypto adoption, with those officials holding crypto assets forming new centers of power?

In Summary

The Bitcoin address controlled by the German government has been active in recent weeks, indicating that they are likely intending to sell some of their stash.

We can see transactions between the German government's Bitcoin address and exchanges. However, without consulting the exchanges, we cannot verify if Germany actually bought or sold Bitcoin.

The German government's actions, along with Mount Gox's recent activity, have sparked fears of more selloffs in the market, but we need to consider the long-term impacts of countries investing in cryptocurrencies.

If you learned something new from this article, be sure to check out my other posts on crypto and finance here on the HIVE blockchain. You can also follow me on InLeo for more frequent updates.

Until next time...

Resources

Bitcoin Under German Colors Image [1]