Within weeks, the German government effectively reduced its 50,000 Bitcoin holdings to nothing after a relentless sell-off that sent the cryptocurrency market into a tailspin. However, after the German government ended the entire sale, the price of Bitcoin, as well as the cryptocurrency market, rebounded in response, rising more than 20% since then. With the price of BTC now higher, here’s how much the German government’s holdings would have been had it not sold.

50,000 BTC of the German government would be worth $3.27 billion

The German government continued to sell off its BTC even after the price collapsed, and when the last tranche of coins was sold, the price of Bitcoin was around $53,000. Taking this into account, the average sell-off price was around $57,000, and the total value realized from the sale was rounded to around $3 billion.

If the German government had not sold any of its 50,000 BTC and held on to them until the recovery, the dollar value of the coins would have been much higher. Given the current value of BTC at the time of writing, which is around $65,400, the holdings would now be worth $3.27 billion.

This means that in less than a week, the German government’s 50,000 BTC would be worth $270 million more just by holding it. It also shows the potential for profit that the government missed out on by selling so early.

The government sale did not go unnoticed and drew a lot of criticism from the German public. Jaona Cotar, a member of the German Bundestag, is among those who criticized the move. WX (formerly Twitter) fastingCotar has slammed the German government for its decision to sell BTC, lamenting the fact that the country now holds exactly 0 bitcoins.

“This is the number of #Bitcoin that Germany still has, like 50,000. Congratulations, you have to be really stupid to do that,” X’s post read.

Bitcoin bullish after sell-off

While the German government’s Bitcoin sell-off was bearish at the time, the aftermath proved just how robust Bitcoin is today. After the government’s holdings hit zero tardy last week, Bitcoin’s price began to rebound, taking the entire cryptocurrency market with it.

It went from trending around $53,000 to trading at $66,000 early Wednesday morning, a 20% price escalate since then. Market sentiment has also improved dramatically, jumping from Extreme Fear to Greed in just one week.

Featured image created with Dall.E, chart from Tradingview.com