The way to Bitcoin leads through the wine-red carpet corridors of the Cologne Public Prosecutor’s Office. Shortly before noon, the North Rhine-Westphalian Minister of Justice Peter Biesenbach presses a green start button and a countdown begins to tick. Just a few minutes after twelve, almost 5,000 people clicked on the auction on the Internet: A good 42,000 euros for a Bitcoin, the most common digital currency in the world, has grown to more than 56,000 euros. Curiously, the highest bid is 2000 euros above the current rate.
Since this Monday, NRW has been the first federal state to auction Bitcoin, which the authorities have confiscated after investigations – for example in online drug trafficking. The state uses the existing Justiz-Auktion.de platform for this, on which sports cars that are otherwise often confiscated come under the hammer. A transparent auction is the primary way to recycle confiscated goods, says prosecutor Andreas Brück.
At first glance, the auction is as sober as you are used to from online auctions. The first Bitcoin auctioned pops up between an office chair and a cabinet from the Wilhelminian era, both without bids. Bitcoin is completely different. After ten minutes, there are already 20 bids, some of them well above the daily rate. “We are overwhelmed,” said the Justice Department.
The time of the auction is just right for the authority, as the cryptocurrency reached its all-time high a few days ago. After strong fluctuations, it has risen from less than 1,000 to more than 54,000 euros in the past five years. But Bitcoin is not only popular with speculators. “Bitcoin work without compulsory identification and can be used anonymously,” says Biesenbach. That is every cybercriminal’s dream.
His state has now started several auctions, from 0.1 to a proud ten Bitcoin, which are supposed to run for two days. NRW hopes to bring a good ten million euros into the state coffers in this way. When the first auctions end, the highest bidders are allowed to pick up their Bitcoin in paper form from the judiciary – including the public and private key that leads them to the digital wallet. But prosecutor Brück is moving with the times: if desired, the officer says, you can also transfer the credit digitally.