French authorities sold 0.11 BTC at auction for five times the market price

The French Ministry of Justice’s Agency for the Management and Return of Seized and Confiscated Assets (AGRASC) sold 0.11 BTC at auction for €26 800 (~$31 900). Local journalist Grégory Raymond drew attention to it.

The funniest thing is the first lot of 0.11 $BTC (current value 5,160 euros) which was snapped up for 26,800 euros!

Champion 😭 pic.twitter.com/e4L6iJNGdc

— Grégory Raymond (@gregory_raymond) March 17, 2021

An anonymous buyer paid roughly five times the value for unknown reasons. At the time of writing, the market price of 0.11 BTC stands at $6,421.

Raymond noted that most government auction lots go under the hammer with markups of 3-4%.

In fact the majority of the government’s #bitcoin auction lots go for more than the current price (roughly 3-4% when you add the sale fees)

That is dumb when you think the bitcoins will be delivered to the winners in 48 hours

🙄🙄🙄

— Grégory Raymond (@gregory_raymond) March 17, 2021

Overall, the French authorities intend to sell at auction 611 BTC, most of which were seized from suspects in the hacking of the British GateHub platform. In June 2019, the attackers drained 23 million XRP from the service.

Because the case remains unresolved, legally the assets belong to the suspects. If acquitted, the proceeds from the sale of the cryptocurrency would go to the defendants; if they are found guilty, the state will be the beneficiary.

As a reminder, on March 18, U.S. authorities sold at auction 0,7501 BTC above the market price by about $9,000.

Earlier, BTC was put up for auction by the U.S. Marshals Service (USMS). In 2014, officials sold 30 000 BTC confiscated from the Silk Road darknet marketplace. All lots were purchased by venture capitalist Tim Draper.

In February 2020, USMS put up for auction 4040,54 BTC. The coins were bought by two winners.

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