Germany may seize $5 billion worth of 45 000 BTC from pirate website

Arkham Intelligence reported 45 000 BTC linked to a pirate site

German authorities may confiscate $5 billion worth of bitcoins

08.09.2025 - 11:25

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3 min

Key points:

Arkham Intelligence discovered about 45 000 BTC linked to the Movie2K case.
In 2024, Germany sold nearly 50 000 BTC without waiting for the price of bitcoin to rise.
Crypto advocates propose adding the discovered bitcoins to the state reserve.

Analytics company Arkham Intelligence has discovered approximately 45 000 bitcoins (~$5 billion) linked to the Movie2K piracy case. The assets are spread across more than 100 bitcoin wallets and have not been moved since 2019. Analysts suggest that they are still under the control of Movie2K operators.

Source: x.com

German authorities have not yet commented on whether they are aware of these assets and plan to confiscate them. This discovery has reignited the debate on strategies for managing digital assets seized from criminals.

ВТС What hasty decisions to sell BTC led to

In 2024, German authorities sold 49 858 BTC – confiscated funds from Movie2K, which the operators “voluntarily” gave up. At that time, the BTC price was below $60 000, and this sale held back the growth of the BTC price for some time. Almost a year later, BTC doubled to $124 000: for Germany, this would have been an opportunity to double its $2,89 billion received in 2024.

Some German lawmakers suggested that the government create a strategic BTC reserve from confiscated assets, but the idea was not pursued.

If Germany revises its strategy, it could potentially become one of the leading bitcoin-owning countries. Based on information from Bitcoin Treasuries, the country would rise to fifth place in the ranking, slightly behind Ukraine.