According to ChainCatcher, citing Cointelegraph, data from blockchain intelligence platform Arkham shows that the German government sold 49,858 bitcoins in batches through a wallet address labeled "German Government (BKA)" between June and July 2024, with an average selling price of around $57,900, totaling approximately $2.89 billion in cash.
These bitcoins were originally seized by the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) from the operators of the pirated movie website Movie2k. As of May 2025, the bitcoin price has risen to over $104,700. If the German government had held onto the bitcoins until now, their market value would have reached around $5.24 billion, meaning they missed out on potential gains of approximately $2.35 billion.
Arkham founder Miguel Morel stated that the German government's selling method indicates an intent to quickly obtain liquidity and may not have achieved the optimal market execution.
