Germany: Police Confiscate €2 Billion in Bitcoins

Those who think that cryptocurrencies cannot be traced or confiscated by authorities are wrong. This myth was dispelled on Tuesday, January 30, by the criminal police of Saxony in eastern Germany, who in an unprecedented operation confiscated 50,000 bitcoins, roughly equivalent to an astronomical sum of 2 billion euros. The cryptocurrency ended up in the hands of German justice as part of an investigation into the alleged “unauthorized use of copyrighted works” for commercial purposes and a “subsequent money laundering scheme.”

German police are investigating two men, aged 40 and 37, suspected of “running a pirate website,” who “purchased bitcoins with money derived from this criminal activity.” According to authorities, it will be the largest confiscation of its kind in Germany. “The accused voluntarily handed over the bitcoins to the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), but what to do with them has not yet been decided,” a spokesman for the Saxony state police said.

According to the German press, “recently, there has been an increase in investigations worldwide regarding money laundering through the purchase of cryptocurrencies and especially Bitcoin, the most widely used cryptocurrency in the world.” Because of the way cryptocurrencies are structured, fraud, manipulation, and elements of risk are believed to be harder to detect than more traditional financial instruments. This is because cryptocurrencies are not subject to laws regulating financial markets.