Irish Cops Nab $40M Bitcoin Haul, But $417M Still Lost in Crypto Limbo!

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Irish Police Seize $40 Million in <a href="https://pricpr.com/btc-usd/">Bitcoin</a> With <a href="https://jpyeur.com/eur-usd/">Europol</a> Support

Key Highlights

  • Irish police seized 500 Bitcoin worth about $40 million with support from Europol, and authorities were able to access the wallets.
  • In a previous case, 6,000 Bitcoin, now worth $417 million, were seized but remain inaccessible because the keys were lost.

Police in Ireland have seized around €30 million (about $40 million) worth of Bitcoin – a total of 500 coins – in an operation run by the Criminal Assets Bureau, with help from Europol.

A recent local report indicates that the operation allowed authorities to seize cryptocurrency wallets, potentially enabling the state to sell the Bitcoin and recover funds related to the crime. Each Bitcoin was worth approximately $69,800 when this happened.

Europol helped unlock the wallet with technical support

The operation received technical support from Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, which held meetings at its base in The Hague, Netherlands. This assistance allowed investigators to access the cryptocurrency wallets using specialized technology.

Irish police, working with Europol, have seized a cryptocurrency wallet holding 500 bitcoins, which they believe came from criminal activity.

Previous case where the Bitcoin could not be accessed

This isn’t the biggest Bitcoin seizure the CAB has made, though. Back in 2019, they reportedly seized 6,000 Bitcoin from Clifton Collins, an Irishman, after he was arrested for running a cannabis farm in Ireland.

Back then, Bitcoin was worth $61 million. Collins allegedly used money from his drug dealing to buy Bitcoin in 2011 and 2012, when it was much cheaper than it is today.

As an analyst following this case, it’s remarkable how things unfolded. After acquiring the Bitcoin, my understanding is that Collins took steps to secure it, distributing the 6,000 coins across twelve different virtual wallets. He meticulously recorded the private keys – essentially the passwords to access those wallets – and cleverly hid them in a document within a fishing rod case at a rental property in County Galway. Unfortunately, following a break-in at his home, he reported losing the document, and law enforcement hasn’t been able to gain access to the wallets. What started as a relatively small amount of cryptocurrency has now ballooned in value to around $417 million, but remains completely out of reach.

In 2020, Collins turned over $1 million in Bitcoin, plus other property worth $1.4 million—including a small airplane, a camper van, and a boat—to the state. He received a five-year prison sentence for running an illegal marijuana growing and selling business.

Broader context

This incident is one example of a growing number of crimes involving cryptocurrency. Recently, a 66-year-old man in Hong Kong was reportedly scammed out of approximately HK$6.6 million (around $843,360).

These types of incidents are happening more and more often as more people start using cryptocurrency. Fortunately, law enforcement has had some success tracking and recovering stolen funds, even if they can’t access the digital wallet directly.

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2026-03-24 22:44