Record $2.17 Billion Bitcoin Seized by German Authorities in Piracy Operation

By: Isha Das

In a historical event, German authorities have successfully confiscated 50,000 Bitcoin, valued at an astronomical $2.17 billion from a piracy website in a sting operation carried out in mid-January, marking the largest asset seizure by the German police to date. This seizure has been part of an ongoing investigation into suspected unauthorized commercial usage of copyrighted material under the Copyright Act and subsequent commercial money laundering, as described in an official statement from the Saxony Police.

The investigation, in which the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the FBI, and a Munich-based IT company are closely working together, has identified two unnamed suspects, a 40-year-old German and a 37-year-old Polish man. Reportedly, one of them has voluntarily transferred the flagship digital asset to addresses provided by BKA.

Moreover, this isn't an isolated incident of German authorities intercepting Bitcoin. Back in 2022, they had confiscated approximately €23 million worth of the Bitcoin from an illicit darknet marketplace, Hydra.

Similarly, the U.S. has been witness to significant seizures of Bitcoin and has shown active intent to divest its BTC holdings, despite still retaining more than 216,000 units of BTC, valued at $9.56 billion as per the data from Arkham Intelligence platform.