Ireland’s Criminal Assets Bureau, working with Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, secured another 500 BTC valued at roughly $38.7 million from a dormant cryptocurrency wallet likely tied to a 2019 Irish drug trafficking case.
In a previous statement linked to an X post on Tuesday, the bureau said that Europol hosted operational meetings in The Hague and provided “highly complex technical expertise and decryption resources” that enabled investigators to gain access to the wallet. The agency added that the funds were identified as proceeds of crime and said it would provide no further comment.
Arkham Intelligence data shows the seized bitcoin finally moved to Wintermute, a cryptocurrency trading firm. The onchain tracker issued an alert stating that 500 BTC had moved after 10 years of inactivity.
The seizure appears to represent the second time authorities have accessed one of 12 dormant wallets originally tied to a 2019 drug bust. In March, the CAB and Europol breached a separate wallet, also recovering 500 BTC.
The 500 BTC is part of a larger 6,000 BTC stash amassed by Clifton Collins, a former beekeeper who began growing and selling cannabis in 2005, according to The Guardian. Collins used drug profits to buy bitcoin in late 2011 and early 2012, when the asset traded at a few dollars per BTC.
