The Movie2k saga looked finished. Then a judge put everything back on the table.
In July 2024, the German state of Saxony sold nearly 50,000 Bitcoin seized from the former operators of the pirate streaming portal movie2k.to, collecting roughly €2.64 billion. A record haul — until Bitcoin went on to set all-time highs above $126,000, turning that sale into one of the most mocked financial decisions of the year. Without ever intending to, the German government became the global symbol of "sold too early."
Now the case has a second chapter, and the crypto market is watching closely.
Saxony Judge Proposes a Historic Plea Deal
According to German court sources cited by Bitcoin Magazine and NewsBTC, the judge presiding at the Landgericht Leipzig — where the trial against the two main defendants is ongoing — has proposed a plea agreement: Saxony would keep the €2.64 billion already collected from the 2024 sale, and in exchange the principal defendant — charged with money laundering in 146 separate cases, among other offences — would transfer another 57,000 Bitcoin still under his control to the state.
At current prices of around $74,000 per BTC, those 57,000 coins are worth more than $4.2 billion. This would be the largest Bitcoin seizure in European history — nearly four times the dollar value of the original 2024 confiscation.
The trial began in February 2026. The 42-year-old lead defendant faces charges of unauthorised commercial exploitation of copyright-protected works and money laundering. A second defendant, aged 39, faces similar charges plus tax evasion. The original copyright violations have since passed the statute of limitations, but the financial chapter remains wide open.
"The agreement proposed by the court would set an unprecedented precedent in European criminal law related to digital assets."
The Ghost of July 2024
To understand why this news is rattling the crypto community, it helps to revisit what happened nearly two years ago. When Saxony began moving its Bitcoin to exchanges in June 2024, the price was hovering around $58,000. By the time the last coins were sold, the average exit price was roughly $57,000. Someone later sent the Saxon government wallet $1.87 in BTC with the message "HFSP German government" — and it went viral on X.
In the months that followed, Bitcoin nearly tripled in value. The irony was brutal, and the market had spoken.
Now, with 57,000 BTC back in play, the question bouncing across every crypto forum is the same: will Saxony hold or sell again? German law has historically required rapid liquidation of volatile seized assets. But the context is shifting: Europe's regulatory environment is evolving, the narrative of Bitcoin as a state-level store of value is gaining traction — as seen with Morgan Stanley's MSBT ETF launch — and community pressure is intensifying.
Market Impact: The Overhang Risk
Julio Moreno of CryptoQuant has already flagged that exchange inflows are rising precisely as Bitcoin tests the $75,000 resistance level. A potential state-led dump of 57,000 BTC would represent massive supply-side pressure — larger in scale, but similar in nature, to the 2024 episode.
Prediction markets on Polymarket are already pricing in scenarios tied to how Saxony handles these coins. And the international community — watching Bitcoin enter geopolitical calculations from the Strait of Hormuz to Wall Street — sees Saxony as a live test case: are state actors who acquire Bitcoin through judicial channels finally beginning to understand what they hold?
Michael Saylor, who just last week purchased another 13,927 BTC for over $1 billion — bringing Strategy's total to 780,897 BTC — responded on X with a simple post: "Buy the news." The message is unambiguous: whatever Saxony decides, institutional demand stands ready to absorb any sell pressure.
What Happens Next
The judge's proposed deal still requires formal acceptance from both parties. The lead defendant's defence team raised procedural objections from day one of the trial, making the path far from straightforward.
In the meantime, the 57,000 BTC remain under the control of their original holder. According to Arkham Intelligence, which mapped these reserves across more than 100 distinct wallets — all inactive since 2019 — in 2025, the coins have not moved. Not yet.
For Saxony, this is an unprecedented opportunity. For the Bitcoin market, it is an event that deserves the same close attention as any major institutional whale movement. For the crypto community, it is above all an open question: will they learn from the lesson of 2024?
Follow the latest developments on SpazioCrypto, where we cover in real time the evolution of Europe's crypto regulatory landscape and the Bitcoin market moves that matter.
