More and more cybercriminals are involved in the theft of cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin and Ethereum through the scam schemes.
The attackers caught by the police are usually forced to confiscate the stolen funds, so that’s where appears the question “What are we going to do with the collected crypto assets?”.
The continuous fluctuation in digital asset value has prompted German prosecutors to organize an urgent sale of confiscated cryptocurrencies, which has brought them $ 14 million. The announcement was made on 28th May by Der Tagesspiegel. They revealed that prosecutors demanded the sale of the cryptocurrencies collected on February 20, 2018.
Prosecutors have had about two months to organize and finalize the sale of cryptocurrencies. According to the local media, 1,312 Bitcoins, “1,399 Bitcoin Cash, 1,312 Bitcoin Gold and 220 Ether”, were sold. It took 1,600 transfers to complete sales.
“The sales process lasted for almost two months: in more than 1,600 individual transactions, the crypto-money was sold from the end of February to the end of April on a German-based trading platform.”
We remind you that all cryptocurrencies have been confiscated from attackers by the Bavarian Cybercrime Institutions. Even though the authorities haven’t issued the final allegations for the last two investigations, they had the right to urgent sales because of the devaluation of crypto assets, according to the announcement.
“Since all cryptocurrencies are exposed to the risk of high price fluctuations or even total loss, the Bayern Central Office of Cybercrime ordered an emergency sale,” reported the prosecutor.
At the moment, the investigating authority didn’t set out the following steps to take. Thus, we can conclude that the investigation will continue.
This isn’t the first sale of this genre organized in Germany. By the end of 2017, the Central Office of Cybercrime based in Hesse decided to sell 126 Bitcoins seized over several years of investigation. We want to remind you that by the end of December 2017, Bitcoin reached $ 20,000, which brought $ 2.3 million to the German state budget.
