-
It’s
not
the
country
of
Germany
that’s
been
selling
millions
of
dollars
worth
of
bitcoin,
but
a
small
German
state
called
Saxony. -
The
state
confiscated
almost
50,000
BTC
in
January
and
has
been
selling
its
holdings
as
per
standard
practice
for
assets
seized
during
criminal
investigations,
an
expert
said.
For
days,
news
outlets
worldwide
have
reported
on
Germany’s
sale
of
hundreds
of
millions
of
dollars
worth
of
bitcoin
(BTC)
and
the
ensuing
distress
in
markets
and
major
sell-offs
in
crypto
prices.
First,
it’s
not
Germany
itself
that
is
selling
the
cryptocurrency.
It
is
a
small
state
in
the
eastern
part
of
the
country
called
Saxony.
Second,
though
crypto
fans
have
roasted
the
decision
to
dump
so
much
of
their
beloved
bitcoin,
Saxony
doesn’t
have
a
choice.
Earlier
this
year,
the
state’s
Criminal
Police
Office
(known
by
its
German
acronym
LKA)
seized
49,857
bitcoin
(worth
almost
$3
billion
at
current
prices)
from
the
operator
of
Movie2k.to,
a
website
Saxony
found
guilty
of
money
laundering
and
other
illegal
activities.
About
a
week
ago,
a
crypto
wallet
that
belongs
to
the
German
Federal
Criminal
Police
Office,
or
BKA,
started
moving
thousands
of
BTC
to
exchanges
including
Kraken,
Coinbase
and
Bitstamp,
signaling
an
intent
to
sell
them.
The
wallet’s
bitcoin
holdings
have
dwindled
to
23,788.
Reactions
on
social
media
have
been
harsh.
“Germany
selling
all
their
#Bitcoin
will
go
down
as
one
of
the
most
retarded
things
their
politicians
ever
did,”
one
X
user
wrote.
“Germany’s
govt
officials
are
literal
idiots,”
another
said.
But
what’s
happening
in
Germany
isn’t
a
bad
investment
strategy
–
it
is
merely
standard
procedure
that
applies
to
assets
confiscated
in
criminal
investigations,
an
expert
said.
“The
general
prosecutor’s
office
of
Saxony
is
responsible
for
liquidating
confiscated
assets,
and
the
sell-off
is
hardly
surprising,”
said
Dr.
Lennart
Ante,
co-founder
and
CEO
of
German-based
Blockchain
Research
Lab.
“Seized
assets
are
always
liquidated
within
a
certain
period.
This
is
a
routine
business
process,
although
at
a
larger-than-normal
scale.”
The
reason
why
the
wallet
belongs
to
the
country’s
BKA
–
not
Saxony
itself
–
is
probably
because
the
police
agency
was
involved
in
the
initial
investigation
and
had
the
technical
know-how
to
handle
such
a
large
amount
of
bitcoin,
he
speculated.
However,
BKA
does
not
have
decision-making
power
and
solely
acts
on
instructions
from
the
state.
In
most
cases,
confiscated
assets
can
only
be
transferred
or
sold
with
the
proceeds
going
to
the
state
budget
once
a
judge
rules
that
the
state
is
allowed
to
do
so,
which
isn’t
the
case
in
this
particular
situation.
However,
states
can
request
to
initiate
an
emergency
sale,
which
could
be
issued
if
the
asset’s
value
might
quickly
lose
value
or
is
difficult
to
store,
for
example,
Ante
explained.
“In
the
case
of
bitcoin,
this
could
at
least
be
argued
on
the
grounds
of
volatility,”
he
said.
There
is
evidence,
however,
that
Saxony
is
trying
to
sell
too
much
bitcoin
at
once.
On
Tuesday,
it
received
$200
million
back
from
some
of
the
exchanges,
indicating
that
there
wasn’t
enough
demand
to
buy
such
a
huge
sum.
