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German police provisionally seized 50,000 bitcoins in mid-January in an investigation in the eastern state of Saxony. The local police reported this on Tuesday. According to the police, this is the largest seizure of digital coins from our eastern neighbors.
Tuesday January 30, 2024 at 1:18 PM
The bitcoins were worth more than 2 billion euros according to Tuesday’s exchange rate, said Kay Anders, spokesperson for the regional police. According to the spokesperson, one of the suspects voluntarily handed over the coins to the federal police.
A 40-year-old and 37-year-old man are under investigation. According to the police, the men are suspected of piracy. They allegedly operated a website for illegal downloads until May 2013. They would have invested the income from advertisements and subscriptions in bitcoins.
The German Federal Police, the American FBI and an IT company from Munich are assisting in the investigation. It is not clear what will happen to the bitcoins when the investigation is completed.