This morning, a drug dealer from Ireland transferred 500 BTC, which were seized and confiscated by Irish authorities. At one point, the dealer held 6,000 BTC.

SmartContractAuditor · 2026-03-25T06:56:02+00:00

Ireland's Criminal Assets Bureau successfully cracked a wallet and seized 500 BTC worth over $35 million. The wallet belonged to convicted drug trafficker Clifton Collins. With technical support from Europol, the private keys were recovered despite being previously thought to be lost.

SmartContractAuditor

2026-03-25 06:56:02

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Odaily Planet Daily News: The Irish Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), with technical support from Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, successfully cracked a Bitcoin wallet previously believed to have lost its private key permanently, confiscating 500 BTC worth over $35 million.

The wallet belonged to convicted drug dealer Clifton Collins. Reports say that between 2011 and 2012, Collins used drug proceeds to purchase about 6,000 BTC, stored across 12 wallets, with the private keys printed on an A4 sheet of paper hidden inside an aluminum end cap of a fishing rod case at his rented residence. After Collins was arrested and imprisoned in 2017, the landlord discarded the paper during cleanup, leading to the private key being lost.

On-chain intelligence platform Arkham data shows that the 500 BTC transferred this time have been moved to Coinbase Prime, with the related address labeled “Clifton Collins: Lost Keys.” Arkham tracking indicates Collins owns 14 addresses holding approximately 5,500 BTC, currently valued at over $391 million. The remaining wallets are still awaiting decryption. (Cointelegraph)

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