Ireland's Criminal Assets Bureau, working with Europol's European Cybercrime Centre, successfully recovered 500 BTC valued at approximately ₹3,000 crore ($38.7 million) from a dormant cryptocurrency wallet linked to a 2019 Irish drug trafficking case. According to reports from The Block, the seizure represents the second successful recovery from a 12-wallet bitcoin cache holding 6,000 BTC that was originally amassed by Clifton Collins. The recovered funds were identified as proceeds of crime, with Europol providing "highly complex technical expertise and decryption resources" during operational meetings in The Hague.
As reported by The Block, Arkham Intelligence data revealed that the seized bitcoin finally moved to Wintermute, a cryptocurrency trading firm, after 10 years of inactivity. The onchain tracker issued an alert confirming that 500 BTC had moved from the dormant wallet. This marks the second time authorities have accessed one of the 12 dormant wallets originally tied to the 2019 drug bust, following a similar recovery in March when CAB and Europol breached a separate wallet, also recovering 500 BTC.
According to The Block and The Guardian, the 500 BTC recovery is part of a larger 6,000 BTC stash amassed by Clifton Collins, a former beekeeper who began growing and selling cannabis in 2005. Collins used drug profits to purchase bitcoin in late 2011 and early 2012, when the asset traded at just a few dollars per BTC. Collins stored the private keys to the bitcoin wallets in a fishing rod case at a rented property in County Galway before the keys were reportedly lost during his imprisonment following his arrest in 2017. Arkham data currently shows wallets tagged "Clifton Collins: Lost Keys" holding approximately 5,000 BTC valued at about ₹3,080 crore ($387.2 million) at current prices.
In a separate development tracked by Arkham Intelligence, blockchain data showed wallets labeled as "U.S. government-controlled FTX Alameda seized funds" moving multiple assets over the past 24 hours. As reported by The Block, these transfers included 289.65 ETH worth about ₹5,200 lakh ($610,840) and 290,416 USDT sent to Coinbase Prime deposit addresses, alongside 643,034 DAI transferred to an untagged wallet address. The Irish authorities have provided no further comment on the latest recovery operation.
