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Ireland Seizes Third 500 BTC From Drug Dealer’s Long-Lost Bitcoin Stash

Europol’s decryption support enabled the Criminal Assets Bureau to move recovered coins into institutional custody for legal and forensic processing.

Overview

  • The Criminal Assets Bureau said the latest seizure took place on July 2 and raised the total recovered from wallets tied to Clifton Collins to 1,500 BTC.
  • Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre supplied technical decryption expertise and hosted investigators at its Hague offices to help access wallets long thought unreachable.
  • Blockchain analysts and on-chain tracking show the newly moved coins were deposited to institutional custody, with a reported transfer to Coinbase Prime pending further legal steps.
  • Roughly 4,500 BTC remain in nine dormant wallets linked to Collins and are being monitored and tagged by firms such as Arkham Intelligence and Lookonchain.
  • A full recovery of the original roughly 6,000 BTC would rank among Ireland’s largest crypto forfeitures and signals that cross-border technical help plus blockchain forensics can unlock assets once deemed lost.