Bulgaria is known as the country with largest Bitcoin reserve after the creator of Bitcoin himself, Satoshi Nakamoto. Back in July, 2018, it was reported that Bulgaria ranked second in terms of Bitcoin reserves, as in 2017 “the Bulgarian government seized almost $1.3 billion in Bitcoins, or 213,519 coins, to be precise. The amount of Bitcoin that was cracked down was enough to pay off 25% of Bulgaria’s national debt. According to press, Bitcoin was used for tax fraud.”
While the issue with stolen coins is easily resolved in countries such as the United States, where all seized coins are auctioned off, there is no such policy in Bulgaria.
Just recently, the Bulgarian Prosecutor’ Office announced that the Bulgarian police has arrested 3 men for a $5 million cryptocurrency theft.
The law enforcement in Bulgaria managed to recover around $3 million of the crypto data, but the remaining $2 million are still nowhere to be found. A very small part of the funds was used for the purchase of a car, which was seized by the police.
The interesting part is that, according to Finance Magnates, this theft is the first of its kind in both Europe and Bulgaria. The criminals reportedly have superior computer skills, which essentially allowed them to steal the digital coins in the first place.