Imagine having a treasure chest filled with $378 million worth of gold, but no key to unlock it. That’s what Ireland’s Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) is facing.
In 2019, they seized a staggering amount of Bitcoin from convicted drug dealer Clifton Collins, but the digital keys to this fortune are now lost.
There’s a lot more to this story. Read on.
Clifton Collins, who ran a cannabis-growing business, began investing in Bitcoin back in 2011 and 2012 when prices were much lower. As his Bitcoin holdings grew, he took extra steps to secure his fortune by splitting it across 12 different virtual wallets. He wrote down the access codes on a piece of paper, which he kept in a fishing rod case at one of his rental properties.
Things went downhill when Collins was arrested. He claimed the fishing rod case—and the critical access codes inside—was either thrown away during a property cleanout or stolen after a break-in. Without those codes, both Collins and the authorities are locked out of the wallets and can’t access the Bitcoin.
At the time of the seizure, the Bitcoin was worth about $56 million—a substantial amount already. Since then, Bitcoin’s price has skyrocketed, pushing the total value of the locked cryptocurrency to an astonishing $378 million. CAB is hopeful that future technological advances could eventually provide a way to recover the funds.
While most of the Bitcoin remains out of reach, Collins did forfeit other assets worth €1.2 million as part of a settlement. This included €1 million in Bitcoin he could still access, along with a Gyro aircraft, a camper van, and a fishing boat.
Despite the ongoing struggle with Collins’ Bitcoin, CAB has had other successes. In 2023, the bureau recovered €8.6 million for the exchequer, the largest amount in 15 years. However, the $378 million worth of inaccessible Bitcoin continues to be a significant challenge for the agency.
This is a rare instance where security turns out to be a pain! What do you think of this situation?
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