Finnish Customs sold its legally forfeited cryptocurrencies

During the summer, Finnish Customs has realised its cryptocurrencies that had been legally forfeited to the State. The realisation concerned 1889.1 bitcoins. The State gained about 46.5 million euros in total in proceeds from their sale. Customs has not yet realised the currencies associated with the sold bitcoins, and the current value of these currencies is some hundreds of thousands of euros at most.

The bitcoins were sold by the two cryptocurrency brokers selected by Customs through competitive negotiated procedure in late spring.

Customs has seized bitcoins in connection with investigations into offences related to narcotics and doping substances. In addition to the bitcoins that have now been realised, there are about 90 bitcoins in Customs’ possession awaiting a valid judgement of forfeiture. Customs has also seized other cryptocurrencies, but since the preliminary investigation into these cases is ongoing, the currencies or their amounts cannot be revealed in detail.