The German federal authorities have more than 30 bitcoins in their financial possession. “Currently, selected federal authorities hold crypto assets worth 31.41954211 bitcoins,” says a response from the Federal Ministry of Finance published Friday to a request from the AfD faction. Accordingly, Bitcoins (BTC) were purchased and these and other cryptocurrencies were seized in the course of criminal proceedings.
According to the ministry, units of nearly 20 different cryptocurrencies were seized between 2015 and 2022. Among them were nearly 39 bitcoins, nearly 15 “coins” of the Ethereum currency and more than 6800 units of the Doge currency.
“BTC was first acquired in 2015,” the ministry said. “The last purchase was in 2021. The crypto assets will not be used for investment purposes.”
The Federal Intelligence Service is silent
The Ministry has not provided information on the extent to which the Federal Intelligence Service (BND) holds cryptocurrencies. For the foreign intelligence service, “answering the questions concerns information which affects the well-being of the state in a particularly high degree and therefore cannot be answered even in secret form”. The BND concluded “after careful consideration” that “the question cannot be answered for its area”.
The price of the digital currency Bitcoin is subject to strong fluctuations. One bitcoin is currently worth almost $19,000 ($17,600). The currency peaked at just under $69,000 in November 2021.
Source: Krone
I’m Ben Stock, a journalist and author at Today Times Live. I specialize in economic news and have been working in the news industry for over five years. My experience spans from local journalism to international business reporting. In my career I’ve had the opportunity to interview some of the world’s leading economists and financial experts, giving me an insight into global trends that is unique among journalists.
