A couple of German prosecutors in the federal state of Bavaria have sold seized cryptocurrency worth 12 million EUR ($13.9 million) which is the highest such sale in German legal history. The news comes from the local outlet Der Tagesspiegel this May 28th.
The sale involved 1312 Bitcoins (BTC), in addition to other altcoins too – including 1399 Bitcoin Cash (BCH), 1312 Bitcoin Gold (BTG) and 220 Ethereum (ETH). The cryptocurrencies which were seized during criminal proceedings were sold over the course of 2 months in 1,600 individual transactions.
As the German prosecutors commented on the sale:
“Since all cryptocurrencies are exposed to the risk of high price fluctuations or even total loss, the Bayern Central Cybercrime Office ordered an emergency sale.”
Meanwhile, the funds were collected during the criminal proceedings against the online platform “Lesen und Lauschen” which offered more than 200,000 e-books and audiobooks illegally. They asked as little as several cents as payment. According to Der Tagesspiegel, at least 30,000 people used the platform. The police arrested them last June, including officers from the Bayern Central Cybercrime Office who banned the website.
While Germany raised around $14 million from its cryptocurrency sale, the US Marshals Service raised over $40 million for 3,812 BTC seized in the course of civil and criminal proceedings this January alone.
In a similar way, the Bulgarian police seized 213,519 BTC last year after they busted an organized crime group recruiting corrupt customs officers, enough to pay even one-fifth of Bulgaria’s national debt.
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