German Authorities Seize $2.17 Billion in Bitcoin

German authorities in Saxony seized around 50,000 bitcoins valued at $2.17 billion in an investigation into copyright infringement.

Within the context of an investigation into alleged infringement of copyright, the German authorities in the state of Saxony have reported that they have seized approximately 50,000 bitcoins.

The Saxony police announced on January 30 that they had collaborated with tax authorities and prosecutors to secure the bitcoin which was reportedly tied to two individuals who were citizens of Germany and Poland.

At the time of publishing, experts estimated Bitcoin’s worth to be approximately $2.17 billion. The people who purchased Bitcoin in 2013 did so using the earnings from the sale of pirated works distributed through websites.

According to German authorities, the bitcoins were taken into custody after the accused voluntarily transferred them to official wallets provided by local law enforcement.

The conclusion that can be drawn from this is that a definitive choice about the utilization of Bitcoin has not yet been made. The individuals who are allegedly involved in the crime purchased the Bitcoin at an unknown time.

Nevertheless, the substantial amount of the seizure suggests that it may have occurred during a period of reduced cryptocurrency prices.

According to information obtained from Glassnode as of October 31st, law enforcement officials in the United States have seized a total of 210,429 bitcoins due to a variety of criminal activities.

In November 2023, Coinbase announced that German authorities had submitted 1,906 demands for information from the cryptocurrency exchange between the fourth quarter of 2022 and the third quarter of 2023.

These requests concerned the cryptocurrency exchange’s operations. Before reaching a deal with authorities in the United States worth $4.3 billion, Binance withdrew its application for a cryptocurrency custody license in Germany, which implied that there would be changes to the “global market and regulation.”