Recently, the German authorities liquidated Bitcoin valued at about $3 billion. From June 19 to July 12, the German government sold 49,858 BTC tokens for approximately €2.6 billion, or $2.9 billion.
Regarded as an “emergency” measure, the sales had a connection to a continuing criminal probe. But both politicians and business executives have expressed strong disagreement and disapproval over the extensive liquidation.
The government promised that the sales were carried out in a way that supported the market, yet during the sale period, the value of Bitcoin fell by more than 22%, from $65,695 to $53,717.
Even with the purported prudence, many have begun to doubt the actual market impact of such a big sell-off in light of the recent precipitous decrease.
Michael Saylor Gives His Two Cents
The chairman of MicroStrategy and well-known supporter of Bitcoin, Michael Saylor, has been among the most outspoken opponents of the German government’s decision.
Saylor expressed his disgust on social media by posting in German, “Until you run out of Bitcoin, it’s not an emergency.” His somewhat mocking remark demonstrated his tremendous conviction in the potential of Bitcoin by implying that running out of the cryptocurrency is an emergency in and of itself.
Es ist kein Notfall, bis du kein #Bitcoin mehr hast.
— Michael Saylor
(@saylor) July 17, 2024
Michael Saylor instructed MicroStrategy to consistently invest in Bitcoin in 2020. A company with a $6.2 billion unrealized profit spent $8.3 billion on Bitcoin. Dedicated to the world’s most popular digital asset, Saylor believes current financial strategies must integrate it.
Legislator Shares Saylor’s Views On Bitcoin
German lawmaker Joana Cotar joins Michael Saylor in her chorus of criticism. Cotar said that Bitcoin should be kept on hand as a reserve and regretted the government’s decision to sell up its holdings.
Particularly at a time when Wall Street titans and other financial institutions are beginning to acknowledge Bitcoin, she called the selling useless.
The liquidation in Germany has significantly drawn more backlash than that of other countries like El Salvador. Bitcoin became a legal currency for El Salvador in 2021 and now, the nation has 5,508 Bitcoin worth around $300 million.
Acting pro-actively, the Central American country treats Bitcoin as a regular form of money and implements regulations establishing private investment banks out of other digital assets as well.
El Salvador’s laws reveal that more and more nations believe Bitcoin might be a valuable instrument for their own economies.
The fact that the nation welcomes Bitcoin is quite different from Germany’s decision to sell off its reserves. This opens the discussion about the impact of virtual currencies to national economies.
In the meantime, Saylor’s concerns about Germany’s massive crypto liquidations will be something that bitcoin aficionados will be closely keeping an eye on in the coming days or weeks.
Featured image from VOI, chart from TradingView