German Police Transfer Bitcoin Worth IDR 6.8 Trillion From Confiscated Funds

JAKARTA - Onchain data reveals that entities likely linked to the German Federal Criminal Office (BKA) transferred 6,500 bitcoins, valued at around Rp6.8 trillion, on June 19. Arkham Intelligence identified the address on January 31 through its onchain monitoring system.

Reporting from Bitcoin.com News, about four months ago, Arkham Intelligence announced on social media platform X that it had marked an address allegedly owned by BKA. The German Federal Criminal Office (BKA) confiscated nearly 50,000 BTC (Rp 33.9 trillion) from the Movie2k.to operator, an active film hijacking site in 2013, Arkham said in January.

Arkham added that BKA received the bitcoin in mid-January after voluntary transfers from the suspects.

In addition to the 6,500 BTCs transferred on June 19, the wallets also transferred several funds to other unknown wallets, which then sent several batches of 500 BTC each to exchanges such as Bitstamp and Kraken. As of 12 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, the BKA wallet still holds 47,859 BTC, which is worth more than IDR 33.6 trillion.

In recent years, the government, including the US, has increasingly interacted directly with centralized crypto exchanges rather than using the auction process. This shift means liquidity is more likely to enter the open market more quickly than if it is sold to private buyers.

The German police continue to show a proactive approach in dealing with crypto assets confiscated from illegal activities. With this latest move, BKA not only secures funds but also contributes to market stability by ensuring that liquidity remains available.