According to Arkham Intelligence data, as of 4:15 p.m. ET on Monday, the German government address had received 2,898 bitcoins, or about $163 million, returned by the exchange, mainly from Coinbase, Kraken, and Bitstamp. Steven Zheng, head of research at The Block, said the exchange was likely returning bitcoins because it could not sell them within the target price range. "Given that some bitcoins have been returned from Coinbase to the German government address, it can be assumed that they are unsold bitcoins as part of a sales agreement between the cryptocurrency exchange and the country," said Mr. Zheng. The German government currently holds more than $2 billion worth of bitcoins, according to the data.