Germany’s authorities have scheduled a Bitcoin auction to begin on Monday, October 25. North Rhine-Ministry Westphalia’s of Justice held a public auction for Bitcoin confiscated from hackers.
A two-day sale offered over 200 Bitcoin. The western German state operates the country’s sole central online auction portal. Additionally, it regularly auctions various types of seized property.
While auctioning off confiscated cryptocurrency is standard practice, the announcement of this Bitcoin auction sparked a frenzy in Germany. In the last few days, around 4,000 new users registered on the auction platform.
Seized crypto to the tune of millions
The Ministry of Justice stated that they must auction the cryptocurrency in the same manner as they do other seized property.
Last week, when the Ministry of Justice revealed that it would auction off confiscated Bitcoin, Twitter went into a frenzy. The seized cryptocurrency is estimated to be worth tens of millions of euros.
According to a local newspaper, the Ministry was unprepared for the volume of comments.
“We anticipated a high level of interest, but this has exceeded our expectations,” press representative Hilal Tanrisever said.
However, the hoopla is understandable. Just last week, the digital currency achieved an all-time high a day after the United States launched the first bitcoin-futures exchange-traded fund.
Bitcoin seen hitting $100K
Numerous investors anticipate that the value will exceed $100,000 by the end of the year.
Cryptocurrencies have been increasingly used in cybercrime. The Bitcoin being auctioned was seized in connection with illicit activity on the Darknet’s encrypted network. Authorities apparently seized the Bitcoin over a period of several years.
“Each euro that is extracted from criminal networks helps incapacitate them,” the Justice Ministry said in a tweet.
According to Peter Biesenbach, North Rhine-Managing Westphalia’s Minister of Justice, cryptocurrencies are popular not only with genuine users, but “sadly also with criminals.”
He also said bitcoins are “every cybercriminal’s dream.”
Image courtesy of Cointelegraph News/YouTube
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