Justin Sun Offers to Buy $2.3 Billion Worth of Bitcoin from German Government
Justin Sun, the founder of Tron, has proposed to buy the German government’s Bitcoin holdings, which are worth over $2.3 billion. This initiative aims to minimize the negative impact on the Bitcoin price by avoiding a massive sell-off on the market through an OTC transaction.
Sun made this offer on July 4th in a post to his 3.5 million followers on X:
I am willing to negotiate with the German government to purchase all BTC off-market in order to minimize the impact on the market.
– H.E. Justin Sun (@justinsuntron) July 4, 2024
Movements of the German Government Wallet
The wallet linked to the German government started attracting attention on June 19th when it made a transfer of 6,500 BTC, valued at over $425 million. Prior to this initial transfer, the wallet held nearly 50,000 BTC since February 2024. The funds are believed to come from seizures made against the operator of the pirate movie site Movie2k.
Origin and Management of Seized Funds
The cryptocurrency wallet has been identified by the Arkham Intelligence platform as belonging to the ‘German Government (BKA),’ referring to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) of the country. The BKA seized 50,000 BTC in January from the operator of Movie2k, which is considered the origin of these funds. However, a spokesperson for the BKA stated that the criminal unit does not hold the seized Bitcoins.
Kristina Sawazki, spokesperson for the BKA, clarified in an email:
In principle, the sale or conversion of seized Bitcoins into Euros is the responsibility of the competent public prosecutor’s office or court. The proceeds from seized assets are transferred to the State Revenue Office, where the competent court is located, in accordance with Article 60 of the Code of Criminal Procedure. The BKA only holds the seized or confiscated crypto assets on behalf of the public prosecutors.
Continued Bitcoin Sales by the German Government
The wallet labeled ‘German Government’ has continued selling BTC since mid-June. In its latest transfer on July 4th, the wallet transferred $172 million worth of Bitcoin to several crypto wallets, including a portion to three popular centralized exchanges. A total of $75 million worth of Bitcoin was sent to Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitstamp, suggesting that the wallet potentially intends to sell these BTC.
Two days earlier, on July 2nd, the wallet had transferred $52 million worth of BTC, with 100 BTC sent to Coinbase, 150 BTC to Bitstamp, and 32.74 BTC to Kraken.
