The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) of Ireland is unable to regain control over 12 wallets containing 5500 BTC ($335.9 million), confiscated in 2019 from a drug dealer. At the time of seizure, they were valued at $56 million, reports Irish Times.
In 2020, the High Court charged 49-year-old Clifton Collins with home-grown cannabis cultivation and ordered the seized coins to be handed over to the CAB.
The police initiated the case in February 2017.
Collins was among the early investors in digital gold.
For the past four years, CAB has been unable to access the confiscated cryptocurrency. During this period, its price surged from $9000 to $61,300.
Collins first invested in Bitcoin in 2011 when prices ranged from $0.3 to $29. He claims to have hidden the document with seed phrases in a fishing rod case, which might have disappeared during a break-in or cleaning after his arrest.
According to CAB, €1.2 million ($1.3 million) was recovered from Collins, including 89 BTC, as well as “a fishing boat, a gyrocopter, a metal detector, an electric bicycle, and various vehicles.”
In April, Arkham revealed the cryptocurrency holdings of various nations.
At that time, Germany was among the top three, having completely disposed of 49,858 BTC for €2.6 billion ($2.88 billion) in July.
The United States holds 203,239 BTC and other cryptocurrencies valued at approximately $12.8 billion.
In December 2023, an appellate court formalized the confiscation of 69,370 BTC belonging to the Silk Road darknet marketplace, which was shut down over a decade ago. The funds were seized in November 2020.
In April 2024, a U.S. government-controlled wallet with 30,174 BTC initiated a transfer of ~2000 BTC to a Coinbase Prime address. In August, as part of the next transaction, the wallet transferred 10,000 BTC.
In July, the U.S. Marshals Service selected the mentioned platform for storing and liquidating high-capitalization cryptocurrencies.