Status: 25.10.2021 7:27 p.m.
For the first time, the German judiciary is offering Bitcoin confiscated from criminal transactions in an auction. Shortly after the start, the bids were above the current market value of the cryptocurrency.
The North Rhine-Westphalian judicial authorities started auctioning confiscated data packages from the crypto currency Bitcoin today. According to the public prosecutor in Cologne, the total of 215 Bitcoin comes mainly from drug trafficking on the Darknet. They had been discovered and seized from criminals. North Rhine-Westphalia operates the nationwide only, central online auction portal of the German judiciary.
The auction opened at noon at noon, and the first interested parties quickly got in. Shortly after the start of the two-day online auction, the first bids were 56,000 euros – 2000 euros above the current market price of the digital currency of almost 54,000 euros. The public prosecutors could only speculate about why bids are being made above the market value: “Maybe because they know that they will get the goods from us,” said a judge spokeswoman.
Market value of 11 million euros
The value of the Bitcoin offered for auction is currently stated at 11 million euros. The proceeds go to the state treasury. So that no hackers can access the data packets, the digital keys are secured in an analogue way – in sealed envelopes on paper. Thanks to the so-called blockchain technology, the data packets themselves cannot be copied or falsified.
For legal reasons, the judiciary cannot simply exchange the data packets for euros at an exchange, but has to use them like other seized valuables in this way. This was confirmed by several reports, it said from the Ministry of Justice.
More Bitcoin secured
At the auction, the judiciary offers various Bitcoin tranches that are called up at short intervals. The starting bid should usually be between 80 and 95 percent of the current price. The law enforcement authorities in North Rhine-Westphalia have already secured additional Bitcoin worth around 12.5 million euros.
Bitcoin is a digital currency that is subject to strong fluctuations, but has seen an enormous increase in value overall. If a Bitcoin was traded for one dollar in 2010, it is now around $ 60,000.