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German Police Seize $2.1B Worth of Bitcoin in Piracy Sting
One of the suspects voluntarily transferred the bitcoin to the Federal Criminal Police Office.
Updated Mar 8, 2024, 8:41 p.m. Published Jan 30, 2024, 1:35 p.m.
Police in Germany have provisionally seized 50,000 bitcoin worth $2.17 billion, calling the action its largest cryptocurrency seizure ever, according to a police statement.
The claim is related the operation of a piracy website in 2013 that violated the Copyright Act. Proceeds of that venture were then converted to bitcoin. One of the two suspects voluntarily transferred the bitcoin to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the statement said.
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An investigation is ongoing into subsequent commercial money laundering, although no official charges have been lodged against the men.
"A final decision has not yet been made about the utilization of the bitcoins," the police statement added.
In 2023, the U.S. government seized $216 million worth of bitcoin linked to Silk Road, a dark net market that was taken down in 2013. The U.S. government now holds $9.5 billion worth of bitcoin, according to Arkham data.
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Exchange Review - March 2025
CoinDesk Data's monthly Exchange Review captures the key developments within the cryptocurrency exchange market. The report includes analyses that relate to exchange volumes, crypto derivatives trading, market segmentation by fees, fiat trading, and more.
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Trading activity softened in March as market uncertainty grew amid escalating tariff tensions between the U.S. and global trading partners. Centralized exchanges recorded their lowest combined trading volume since October, declining 6.24% to $6.79tn. This marked the third consecutive monthly decline across both market segments, with spot trading volume falling 14.1% to $1.98tn and derivatives trading slipping 2.56% to $4.81tn.
- Trading Volumes Decline for Third Consecutive Month: Combined spot and derivatives trading volume on centralized exchanges fell by 6.24% to $6.79tn in March 2025, reaching the lowest level since October. Both spot and derivatives markets recorded their third consecutive monthly decline, falling 14.1% and 2.56% to $1.98tn and $4.81tn respectively.
- Institutional Crypto Trading Volume on CME Falls 23.5%: In March, total derivatives trading volume on the CME exchange fell by 23.5% to $175bn, the lowest monthly volume since October 2024. CME's market share among derivatives exchanges dropped from 4.63% to 3.64%, suggesting declining institutional interest amid current macroeconomic conditions.
- Bybit Spot Market Share Slides in March: Spot trading volume on Bybit fell by 52.1% to $81.1bn in March, coinciding with decreased trading activity following the hack of the exchange's cold wallets in February. Bybit's spot market share dropped from 7.35% to 4.10%, its lowest since July 2023.
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