Ireland’s Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), in cooperation with Europol, has gained access to one of 12 Bitcoin wallets linked to convicted criminal Clifton Collins.
On March 24, 500 BTC▼$63,480.00 worth approximately $35 million were transferred to Coinbase Prime.
The wallets had been considered irretrievably lost since 2017. In total, the 12 “missing” addresses hold approximately 6,000 BTC. At the current BTC’s price of $71,475, this amounts to about $425 million.
Where Did the Keys Go?
Clifton Collins was convicted in 2017 for cultivating and selling cannabis, resulting in a five-year prison sentence.
Collins used proceeds from criminal activity to purchase 6,000 BTC. He distributed the coins equally — 500 BTC to each of the 12 wallets. The criminal bought the cryptocurrency in late 2011 and early 2012.
Collins printed the private keys on an A4 sheet of paper and hid them inside an aluminum lid of a fishing rod case in a rental apartment in County Galway. After his arrest, the landlord cleared out the property and discarded the belongings. The fishing rod case was lost. Collins claimed it may have been stolen even before that.
In 2020, the Irish High Court ordered the confiscation of the assets as proceeds of crime. However, without access to the keys, the funds remained inaccessible.
What happened and what to expect next
Access to the wallet became possible thanks to technical support from Europol, which provided decryption resources and forensic expertise. The specific method used to restore access has not been disclosed.
Following the transfer of 500 BTC to the exchange, the remaining 11 wallets remain inaccessible. Analysts at Arkham Intelligence confirmed the movement of funds and identified the addresses linked to Collins.
In most cases, the loss of private keys means permanent loss of access to bitcoin. The CAB operation shows that in certain instances, law enforcement agencies can regain control over confiscated assets. Further results will depend on applying the same methods to the remaining wallets.
Previously, we explained what a bitcoin wallet is and how to use it.
