The cryptocurrency community is puzzled by a $425 million Bitcoin transaction involving the German Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). As reported by CoinDesk, part of the entire funds were moved to crypto exchange deposit wallets while the rest were channeled back to the source.
Details of the Bitcoin Transfer
Notably, Arkham says the wallet address belonged to the German Federal Criminal Police Office and it transferred 6,500 BTC to the address “bc1q0….4yxwd”. Some of the funds were moved back to the originating address.
As per analysis of the transfers, the transactional record revealed that approximately $32 million in Bitcoin was deposited on the crypto exchange Kraken. Similarly, Bitstamp got an equal sum with Kraken. Although both transactions occurred almost simultaneously, no explanations were given on the reasons why.
There are, however, speculations as to the implications of the funds movement. Miguel More, CEO of Arkham stated that the entity appeared to have transferred $130 million in BTC to “service wallets.”
According to More, the nature of the transfers signals a potential intention to sell the Bitcoin soon. If this is true, it will negatively complement the outflows from spot Bitcoin ETF products in recent times.
Background on the Seized Bitcoin
It is, however, not clear if the speculation to sell will materialize. However, should there be a sale, some analysts believe it would be a good investment given the anticipated bullish cycle that the broader crypto industry is predicting for Bitcoin.
The $425 million worth of Bitcoin transferred by the BKA is believed to be from the approximately 50,000 BTC confiscated from the operators of Movie2k.to, a film piracy website active in 2013. At the time, the asset was valued at over $2 million.
According to Arkham, the German Federal Criminal Police Office obtained the Bitcoin as a “voluntary transfer” from the suspects in January.
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