Germany Holds $2.2B in Bitcoin. Germany is home to a sizable portion of Bitcoin, which continues to highlight its significance in the cryptocurrency industry. Arkham Intelligence research indicates that the largest Eurozone economy still has 39,826 Bitcoin worth over $2.2 billion.
This stockpile of pending coins represents about 9% of the $25.3 billion in the 24-hour trading volume of Bitcoin. Such a large sum can cause the market to experience more price volatility.
Germany’s Bitcoin Stash
The nation’s sizable Bitcoin hoard, estimated to be worth $3 billion, was taken from the movie piracy website Movie2k.to. According to a press release, the seizure of 50,000 Bitcoin by German police from the piracy website in January was the “most extensive security of Bitcoins by law enforcement authorities in the Federal Republic of Germany to date.”
The German government has been gradually selling off more than 10,000 BTC since mid-June, pushing the cryptocurrency’s price. The effect of Germany’s Bitcoin sales has been noticeable in the last few weeks, as CoinDesk data shows that the spot price of Bitcoin fell by almost 20% to $55,490.
The price decline was about 13% in just the last week. These market swings have also impacted the wider cryptocurrency market; in just one week, the CoinDesk 20 Index (CD20) fell by nearly 14% and settled at 1,870 points.
Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, offered to buy Bitcoin off-market from the German government after realizing the possible drawbacks. Sun’s plan attempted to lessen the negative impact that large-scale sales had on the spot price.
It remains to be seen, though, if German authorities would even consider such an arrangement. Germany Holds $2.2B in Bitcoin: The decision to exchange Bitcoin for fiat money has drawn criticism for being a geopolitical mistake.
Concern was voiced in the July 5 issue of Blockware Intelligence, which stated that selling bitcoin holdings for fiat money would be foolish for any nation-state because fiat money can be printed freely and readily. On the other hand, Bitcoin is a valuable and limited asset due to its scarcity and the high energy needed for mining.
Bitcoin Miners Face ‘Capitulation’
A crucial stage known as “capitulation” is upon Bitcoin miners as their earnings decline in the wake of the market’s recent sell-off. The indicators gauging miner capitulation are getting close to the levels seen during the market bottom that followed the FTX meltdown in late 2022, according to a recent post on X by market intelligence firm CryptoQuant, pointing to a possible bottom for Bitcoin.
Miners may scale back operations, sell some of their reserves, and mine Bitcoin to maintain operations, generate revenue, or manage their exposure to Bitcoin. This is known as miner capitulation.
Analysts at CryptoQuant have seen multiple signals of surrender during the past month, which has coincided with a 13% decline in the price of Bitcoin, from $68,791 to $59,603.
The current decline in the price of Bitcoin has been caused in part by the miners’ continuous sell-off as well as sales by national governments and Bitcoin whales. Bitcoin fell to $53,499, its lowest point in four months, on July 5.
