Michael Saylor Urges Germany to Retain Bitcoin Holdings

MicroStrategy founder Michael Saylor took to X, posting in German to urge against selling the leading cryptocurrency. 

Du verkaufst deine #Bitcoin nicht.

— Michael Saylor⚡️ (@saylor) July 12, 2024

The post followed reports that Germany’s criminal police and public prosecutor’s office had sold all 49,860 BTC, valued at approximately $2.9 billion, seized from the pirate portal Movie2k in January.

UPDATE: The German Government now has $1 of Bitcoin.

The German Government sent their entire balance of 49,860 BTC ($2.90B) to exchanges and market makers in the past 3 weeks.

2 hours after sending off their final batch of Bitcoin, the German Government received 0.0000321 BTC… pic.twitter.com/0PPUQsAkGP

— Arkham (@ArkhamIntel) July 13, 2024

The assets, seized by Saxony’s police authority, were held in a wallet by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). 

Regional legislation mandates the liquidation of seized funds within a certain period. Lennart Ante, co-founder and CEO of Blockchain Research Lab, attributed the bitcoin sales by authorities, which began with small amounts on June 19, to this requirement.

JAN3 CEO Samson Mow also commented on the sale of the confiscated cryptocurrency. He noted that Germany “had no choice but to dispose of 50,000 BTC.”

The German government had no choice but to dispose of the 50,000 BTC seized from Movie2k. However, this October we should put together a concrete plan for Germany to re-acquire at least 50,000 BTC in a proper nation-state #Bitcoin adoption strategy. ?? @JoanaCotar @BTCimBundestag

— Samson Mow (@Excellion) July 13, 2024

“However, this October we should put together a concrete plan for Germany to re-acquire at least 50,000 BTC as part of a national Bitcoin adoption strategy,” he added. 

German Bundestag member Joana Cotar expressed doubts about the urgency of selling the assets from BKA wallets. She believes the regulatory requirement to liquidate seized funds is due to potential value depreciation risks, which “were not present” in this case.

I very much doubt that Saxony had to sell now and so quickly. The emergency sale in the Code of Criminal Procedure actually stipulates that goods need to be sold quickly if there is a risk of a significant loss of value, which is not the case here.

Besides, laws can be changed.…

— Joana Cotar (@JoanaCotar) July 13, 2024

“Perhaps so. But now [those bitcoins] are gone, and we need a plan to buy them back,” Mow replied. 

Bloomberg linked the German authorities’ liquidation of digital gold to the drop in prices below the psychological support of $60,000 in early July.