Ireland's Crime Assets Bureau "cracked" the seizure of 500 BTC, worth over $35 million.

On March 25th, according to Cointelegraph, 500 BTC previously linked to Irish drug traffickers were transferred on-chain after nearly 10 years of inactivity. Subsequently, the Irish Crime Assets Bureau (CAB) announced that, with technical support from Europol's EuroCybercrime Centre, they successfully cracked a Bitcoin wallet previously thought to have its private key permanently lost, and seized 500 BTC, worth over $35 million. Convicted drug trafficker Clifton Collins purchased approximately 6,000 BTC with proceeds from drug trafficking between 2011 and 2012, storing them across 12 wallets. He printed the private key on an A4 sheet of paper and hid it inside the aluminum end cap of a fishing rod case in his rented apartment. After Collins was arrested and imprisoned in 2017, his landlord discarded the paper while cleaning out his belongings, and the private key's whereabouts became unknown. Collins has 14 addresses holding approximately 5,500 BTC, currently worth over $391 million. The remaining wallets remain unsecured. In most cases, losing a Bitcoin private key means the wallet cannot be recovered or cracked. Due to the nature of public-key cryptography, the funds are permanently inaccessible. The media has contacted the Irish Criminal Assets Authority and the Irish Police for comment.