Finland authorities sell off 1,889 bitcoins collected from criminals

On July 23, 2022, Finland completed a notable transaction involving the sale of 1,889 bitcoins. These bitcoins had been confiscated during various narcotic cases and represented a substantial sum of the digital currency. The decision to sell came after a period of deliberation by Finnish authorities, who had initially expressed concerns about the potential use of Bitcoin in money laundering and other illicit activities.
 

The sale was conducted through two digital asset service providers, Coinmotion Oy and Tesseract Group Oy, and resulted in a total revenue of approximately €46.5 million. This amount was notably less than the value of the bitcoins just a few months prior, when the stash was estimated to be worth around $130 million. The drop in value was attributed to a significant decrease in Bitcoin’s price, which had fallen by 63% from its November 2021 high of $68,990.
 

The Finnish government had initially hesitated to sell the seized bitcoins due to the aforementioned concerns. However, in January 2021, following a market boom that saw Bitcoin’s price rise dramatically, officials decided to liquidate their holdings and began searching for brokers capable of handling the sale.
 

Despite the reduced proceeds from the sale, the Finnish Parliament had already approved the allocation of the funds to support Ukraine amid its conflict with Russia. It was reported that the entire sum raised from the Bitcoin sale would be donated to Ukraine for humanitarian aid and reconstruction efforts.