Irish authorities seize $56M worth of bitcoins from a drug dealer

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The Criminal Assets Bureau, a law enforcement agency in Ireland, has seized €52 million (~$56 million) worth of bitcoins from a drug dealer.

The agency received a freezing order from Ireland’s high court because the court accepted that the dealer, Clifton Collins, was involved in the sale and supply of drugs, local news outlet Irish Independent reported Wednesday.

The 49-year old Collins is believed to have invested in bitcoin at an early stage. Notably, the agency received the order "to ensure it could not be removed from its wallet without the court's approval," per the report. 

The confiscation of the bitcoin reportedly formed a major chunk of the agency’s total seizure of €62 million ($67 million) worth of assets in 2019.

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Yogita Khatri is a senior reporter at The Block and the author of The Funding newsletter. As our longest-serving editorial member, Yogita has been instrumental in breaking numerous stories, exclusives and scoops. With over 3,000 articles to her name, Yogita is The Block's most-published and most-read author of all time. Before joining The Block, Yogita wrote for CoinDesk and The Economic Times. You can reach her at [email protected] or follow her latest updates on X at @Yogita_Khatri5.

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