Irish Authorities Secure Access to €30 Million in Bitcoin

Irish authorities seize 500 BTC valued at €30 million, previously inaccessible due to lost keys.

The Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) of Ireland has seized 500 BTC, valued at €30 million. These funds were considered inaccessible due to lost keys.

The operation was conducted in collaboration with Europol. European experts provided technical expertise and decryption tools, which allowed access to one of the 12 locked wallets for the first time.

Background

A total of 6000 BTC (approximately €360 million) is held at these addresses. The assets were confiscated from Clifton Collins, who was convicted for cannabis cultivation. He began investing in Bitcoin in 2011-2012, when the asset was significantly cheaper.

According to Collins, for security reasons, he distributed the funds across 12 wallets. He recorded the access codes on paper and hid them in a fishing rod case in one of his rented homes.

Subsequently, Collins claimed the case went missing. This could have occurred after a burglary or during the cleaning of the premises following his arrest. The police seized the devices with the wallets back in 2019, but without the codes, they were useless.

Future Prospects

Gaining access to the first wallet gives authorities hope of unlocking the remaining assets, reports the Irish Times. If CAB manages to gain control over all 6000 BTC, their sale would become the largest disposal of confiscated assets in the bureau’s history.

In 2020, Collins had already handed over assets worth €1.2 million to the state, to which he retained access. Now, investigators are attempting to reach the main portion of his crypto holdings.

Back in July 2025, Bloomberg journalists reported that the US Secret Service had seized digital assets worth approximately $400 million.