If they had timed the market correctly, the Finnish authorities would have been able to make more than twice the amount. Finnish customs officials announced that they have sold confiscated bitcoin for EUR46.5 million ($47.35million).
A press release today stated that the 1,889.1 Bitcoins were confiscated mainly in raids prior to 2018. Although the haul was taken during narcotics busts, it was transferred to state control via court rulings. However, it appears that there were long discussions about what to do with it.
Finnish customs agency Tulli launched a tender in July 2021 for brokers who want to sell seized crypto on behalf of the state.
Bitcoin reached the peak of its 2021 bull market shortly thereafter and hit a new all time high of $68,790 in November 10. The price of Bitcoin in Finland could have brought in nearly $130 million.
The tender was not closed until April, when two companies were selected to complete the sale.
Tulli claims it also has other seized cryptocurrency in its possession but these amounts to “some hundreds, thousands of euros at best.” 90 additional Bitcoins (worth approximately $2 million) remain in the agency’s custody, awaiting court rulings.
Annika Saarikko , Finnish Finance Minister, tweeted April that Ukraine would donate “tens of millions of its earnings from the sale of stolen Bitcoins to Ukraine following Russia’s invasion.
Decrypt was told by a spokesperson for the customs agency that the total sales revenue will be donated to Ukraine. The donation has been approved by the Finnish parliament within the second supplementary budget of this summer.
Bitcoin seizures
Finland isn’t the only country that has sold Bitcoin stolen from criminals. The U.S. is the other side of the Atlantic. The U.S. Marshals Service claims it has sold 187.381 in seized Bitcoin in nine auctions over the Atlantic since 2014. However, they declined to disclose the profit in dollars terms. NBC estimated that it would have made $179 millions from these transactions.
French authorities sold 611 Bitcoin worth $34.5million seized in the investigation into the 2019 GateHub hack. Curiously, one hopeful buyer paid more than $26,000 to purchase a lot 0.11 BTC at a rate $290,000.
