German Law Enforcement Sells $13.9 Million Worth of Crypto

Law enforcement agencies throughout the world have created a common practice by auctioning off seized coins. Such an event recently took place in Germany, where prosecutors from Bavaria, sold off cryptocurrency worth $13.9 million, thus marking the biggest sale of this kind in the German history.

According to reports, the auction sold off several digital currencies, including 1,312 bitcoin, alongside 1,299 bitcoin cash, 220 Ethereum, and 1,312 bitcoin gold. It took German prosecutors approximately two months and 1,600 transactions to seize the coins in question, as part of their criminal proceedings.

The funds in question were seized as part of the on-going criminal investigation against ‘Lesen and Lauschen’, which is an online platform that sold over 200,000 e-books and audiobooks. As the digital goods were sold illegally, and for several cents each, this encouraged over 30,000 people to use the platform and actively purchase goods. Following an investigation, the creators of the website were arrested back in June 2017, and the site was shut down shortly after.

In a recent press statement, the prosecutors responsible with the case commented that: "Since all cryptocurrencies are exposed to the risk of high price fluctuations or even total loss, the Bayern Central Cybercrime Office ordered an emergency sale.”

This isn’t the first massive cryptocurrency auction made by authorities in the European Union. In fact, similar auctions were carried out in other member countries as well. For instance, last year, Bulgarian authorities managed to seize a total of 213,519 BTC, after taking down a crime group, responsible for hiring corrupt customs officials to allow the transportation of illegal goods. At that moment, the seized bitcoin was worth approximately $3.3 billion.

Additionally, the practice has become quite common in the United States as well. The US Marshal Service sold off around 3,812BTC, and managed to raise as much as $14 million from the sale. In this case, most of the coins came from the now-defunct Silk Road website, a deep web-based marketplace for the sale and purchase of drugs, and other illegal goods.

Based on everything that has been outlined so far, it seems that law enforcement agencies prefer selling cryptocurrencies for fiat, rather than holding for possible value gains due to volatility.