More than ten years after the closure of the illegal streaming portal movie2k.to, the Federal Republic has received almost 50,000 Bitcoins. This was stated by the Dresden public prosecutor’s office and the Saxony state criminal police this Tuesday with. With a current price of Bitcoin of 40,000 euros, the cryptocurrency could be sold for around two billion euros. This is by far the most extensive Bitcoin security by German law enforcement. According to the announcement, wallets containing cryptocurrencies were voluntarily handed over to the Federal Criminal Police Office BKA by one of the defendants in the ongoing investigation. A “final” decision on the use of the immense sum has not yet been made.
Announcement
Years of investigations
The video streaming portal movie2k.to, popular in Germany at the time, was shut down in May 2013 after starting operations in 2008. By the time it ended, it was a major portal for the illegal distribution of nearly 900,000 films. Those responsible generated revenue through advertising and subscription traps and millions of dollars were raised this way. The money was largely converted into cryptocurrency; at that time the price of Bitcoin was significantly lower than today. Real estate was also purchased with it. Two suspects have been in custody since 2019 and a search is underway for another person. In August 2020, one of the two delivered Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash with a total value of 25 million euros.
With the delivery of around 50,000 Bitcoins, the Federal Republic could suddenly become one of the largest Bitcoin holders ever. Although Bitcoin had often ended up in the hands of various federal authorities in the past, a year ago there were fewer than 32 in total. According to the Attorney General’s Office, it has not yet been decided how to manage the cryptocurrency. With this sum the Federal Republic is unable to reach the United States which is actually there Authorities confiscated a total of nearly 200,000 Bitcoins. These include crypto money from the illegal online trading platform Silk Road and loot from the Bitfinex hack. Such cryptocurrencies are usually auctioned at some point.
(mho)
