The Saxony Central Office for the Protection and Realization of Virtual Currencies, operating under the Dresden Chief Public Prosecutor's Office, announced that the urgent sale of approximately 49,858 Bitcoins has been successfully completed.
The sale was carried out between June 19 and July 12, 2024, in cooperation with Frankfurt-based Bankhaus Scheich Wertpapierspezialist AG, a specialized and regulated German securities trading bank, and with the support of the Federal Criminal Police Office.
An estimated revenue of 2.639 billion Euros was generated from the sale. This significant sum is currently held in trust at the Leipzig Regional Court, pending the outcome of the criminal case regarding the “movie2k” complex. It remains unclear when the court will make the seizure decision and become legally binding.
The decision to sell the Bitcoins transferred by the defendant was taken within the scope of “urgent sale” in accordance with Article 111p of the Code of Criminal Procedure. Such a sale is legally required before the conclusion of ongoing criminal proceedings if there is a risk of depreciation of approximately ten percent or more. Given Bitcoin's volatile nature, characterized by enormous and extremely rapid price fluctuations, these conditions have been consistently met.
The bank is tasked with selling Bitcoins in a way that is both market-friendly and fair. The current value of Bitcoins and other unforeseen circumstances affecting the price were considered unimportant for the decision to initiate an immediate sale.
Following extensive preparations, the Bitcoin sales required by the flash sale were made in multiple small tranches over a period of approximately three and a half weeks. From the beginning, less than one percent of the market volume of Bitcoins was regularly traded over-the-counter (OTC) more than 90 percent of the time. At this level, there was no direct impact on Bitcoin price.
According to the official statement, this emergency sale, unique in the Federal Republic of Germany, ensured that a fair market price was consistently achieved.
Germany sold each BTC for an average of $57,900.
*This is not investment advice.