More than 50,000 bitcoins have been seized by German police in a legal case linked to a hacking site. This is the largest seizure of bitcoins in Germany.
It’s not just the United States that is seeing record bitcoin seizures following a legal investigation. Germany just confiscated nearly 50,000 Bitcoins, or more than $2.17 billion at the cryptocurrency’s current price. These bitcoins were recovered as part of an investigation carried out in coordination with the US FBI and the Federal Criminal Police Office in Germany.
This is “the largest seizure of bitcoins ever made by law enforcement authorities in the Federal Republic of Germany,” the press release points out.
Hacker site
The suspects are two men, a 40-year-old German and a 37-year-old Pole.
“commercial infringement and money laundering” using a German hacking site that operated until May 2013.
“They are suspected of having obtained bitcoins for the income generated by this site,” the German police specify.
The 50,000 bitcoins were transferred by one of the suspects to a crypto wallet belonging to the German authorities.
This is not the first time Germany has seized bitcoins following an investigation. In 2021, for the first time in its history, the German judiciary auctioned 215 bitcoins, obtained after several seizures. As part of this new seizure of 50,000 bitcoins, the German police indicated that they do not yet know what they will do with the loot.
This story reflects the United States, which currently holds 215,000 bitcoins seized in lawsuits, making it the largest country holding bitcoins. Last week, the US government said it planned to sell 2,900 bitcoins obtained in the Silk Road scandal. According to some experts, this sale could weaken (in a measured way) the price of the cryptocurrency queen.