German police seized 50,000 bitcoin in a landmark money-laundering operation involving the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and Munich-based information technology (IT) experts. This amount of bitcoin carries an estimated value of $2.17bn.
Bitcoin worth $2.17bn seized in Germany
The US government claimed 51,680 bitcoin in the now-known Silk Road dark net operation on 21 November 2021. This recovery totalled a value of $3.4bn at that time.
The latest Arkham data shows the US government possesses an estimated $9.26bn in bitcoin. In an April 2023 announcement, the US Attorney’s Office Southern District of New York indicated that James Zhong, the perpetrator of this dark net bitcoin wire fraud, was prosecuted and sentenced to one year and one day in jail.
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The German cryptocurrency seizure is the largest ever on German soil. Dresden city police commented:
This is the most extensive seizure of bitcoins by law enforcement authorities in the Federal Republic of Germany to date.
According to reports, two unnamed perpetrators used a piracy website up to 2013, transgressing the German copyright act. They converted the gains from that website to bitcoin. One of the transgressors voluntarily transferred the cryptocurrency to BKA.
The police also confirmed the investigation is ongoing and looking into secondary money-laundering offences originating from this venture. Officials indicated:
An investigation is ongoing into subsequent commercial money laundering, although no official charges have been lodged against the men.
