The German government's Bitcoin holdings originated from a criminal seizure related to the Movie2k.to piracy website. In January 2024, German federal police (BKA) seized approximately 50,000 BTC from a suspect linked to Movie2k, a movie streaming piracy site that had operated between 2008 and 2013. The seizure was one of the largest cryptocurrency confiscations in European law enforcement history, worth roughly $2 billion at the time of the seizure.

Between June and July 2024, the German government began selling the seized Bitcoin in a series of large transactions that sent visible waves through the market. The BKA transferred thousands of BTC to exchanges including Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitstamp over a period of several weeks. The selling attracted intense scrutiny from the Bitcoin community and crypto media, with on-chain analysts tracking every transaction in real time. Critics, including German opposition politicians, argued the government was selling at depressed prices and should have held the Bitcoin as a strategic asset. The sales were completed by mid-July 2024, with the government liquidating the entire approximately 50,000 BTC position.

Germany's decision to sell became a cautionary tale in sovereign Bitcoin policy. The Bitcoin price rose significantly in the months following the sale, meaning the German treasury missed out on billions in additional value. The episode fueled political debates in Germany and across Europe about whether governments should hold seized Bitcoin as a reserve asset rather than liquidating it. As of 2025, Germany holds effectively zero BTC, having fully divested its Movie2k seizure.

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