The German government has offloaded $900 million U.S. worth of seized Bitcoin (BTC) onto the open market, a move that has further pressured the price of the largest cryptocurrency.
Bitcoin wallets labeled as belonging to the German government moved a total of 16,309 Bitcoin in several batches to cryptocurrency exchanges Bitstamp, Kraken and Coinbase (COIN).
The result was that Bitcoin's price dropped 3% to as low as $55,000 U.S., though the price has since rebounded to $59,000 U.S. in the last 24 hours.
The German government is reportedly following the lead of the U.S. and raising cash by selling its crypto assets that were seized as proceeds of crime.
However, the large amount of Bitcoin being sold by the German government is hitting the market just as the defunct crypto exchange Mt. Gox starts to issue repayments to creditors.
The twin actions of the German government’s sale and the Mt. Gox repayments is flooding the market with Bitcoin, say analysts.
And the German government has more Bitcoin to sell.
Officials within Germany’s government have said that they are only about halfway through their crypto sales.
The German government reportedly has an additional 23,788 Bitcoin worth about $1.3 billion U.S. to sell, which it plans to do over the remaining summer months.
