As a component of an inquiry into copyright infringements, authorities in the German state of Saxony purportedly seized approximately 50,000 Bitcoin earned from piracy websites.
The Saxony police announced on January 30 that they collaborated with tax authorities and prosecutors to seize the Bitcoin, allegedly associated with two Polish and German nationals.
As per the police’s investigation, the individuals acquired Bitcoin in 2013, valued at approximately $2.17 billion at publication, using the earnings from pirated works distributed via websites.
“The authorities seized the Bitcoins after the suspects voluntarily transferred them to official wallets furnished by the police,” they stated. Consequently, implementing Bitcoin has yet to be the subject of a definitive determination.
The precise timing of the Bitcoin purchases purportedly involved in the criminal activity remains uncertain; however, the substantial quantity seized implies that the transactions may have occurred during low cryptocurrency prices.
According to data from Glassnode, as of October 31, law enforcement agencies in the United States had apprehended a cumulative sum of 210,429 BTC about diverse criminal activities.
German authorities submitted 1,906 queries for information from the cryptocurrency exchange between the fourth quarter of 2022 and the third quarter of 2023, according to data released by Coinbase in November 2023.
Before reaching its $4.3 billion settlement with U.S. authorities, Binance retracted its application for a cryptocurrency custody license in Germany, alluding to potential alterations in the “global market and regulation.”
