Germany’s Bitcoin Blunder: How Missing the 2025 Rally Became Their Costliest Financial Mistake

Berlin's bureaucrats just got schooled by Satoshi.

While Germany dithered, Bitcoin ripped past $150K—leaving the EU's largest economy clutching its fiat like a medieval relic. Treasury officials who dismissed crypto as 'niche' now face a brutal reckoning: their gold reserves gained 3% last year. BTC? 420%.

The Cold Hard Math

Every institutional FOMO trigger hit in 2025:

- BlackRock's spot ETF crossed $100B AUM

- Tether's USDT became the 5th largest global 'currency'

- Lightning Network processed more transactions than Visa Europe

Regulatory Malpractice

Germany's BaFin doubled down on KYC theater while Singapore's MAS greenlit compliant DeFi. Result? Frankfurt's 'blockchain hubs' now host more PowerPoints than validators.

Closing thought: When pension funds start stacking sats, you don't want to be the guy who banned mining to save 0.02% of the national energy budget.

Germany Lost Out On Billions

From time to time, various world governments sometimes find themselves holding large quantities of Bitcoin.

Generally, this takes place after seizing assets from criminals, but other methods are also present. Last year, Germany seized 50,000 bitcoins in an anti-piracy bust, but made the controversial decision to sell them all in July 2024.

Almost exactly one year later, this decision is looking extremely unfortunate. Germany sold this bitcoin for $3.13 billion, but the asset’s price has gone off the charts since. Compared to last July, BTC actually doubled.

If the nation had 50,000 BTC to sell today, this WOULD net over $6.64 billion. Instead, its wallet only holds 0.0069 BTC, which was accumulated from anonymous users donating minuscule quantities.

The sale looks like an even more unforced error because Germany today is not particularly anti-crypto. The nation currently issues more MiCA licenses than any other EU member, signifying an active local industry.

Nonetheless, the nation bungled a huge windfall. So, what lessons can the world learn from this?

BREAKING NEWS: The German government is selling another approximately 5,000 #Bitcoin worth around $300 million. I feel very sad for the German people. Among all the bad decisions being made for the country at the moment, this turns out to be the worst. pic.twitter.com/tbkOJZsMh2

On the whole, 2024 was a bad year for governments divesting from crypto. Several nations, like El Salvador and Bhutan, deliberately accumulated Bitcoin, while Germany tried to get rid of it.

Under President Biden, the United States also began liquidating its holdings. Between these two nations and Ukraine, which also performed a complete liquidation, state-owned reserves dropped by 12%.

However, even Biden’s partial liquidation proved influential, as it motivated President Trump’s push for a Bitcoin Reserve. The other two main national holders, China and the UK, did not acquire or dispose of any assets last year.

Although these nations don’t have a formal reserve established, their custodied assets have nonetheless become substantially more valuable.

All that is to say, world governments should consider Germany’s decision if they seize huge quantities of Bitcoin. Even if a political establishment is determined to liquidate, it may be prudent to postpone this as long as possible.

If the German government had followed the most common advice by every Bitcoin advocate, HODL, its economy could have netted billions and potentially more in the future.