Key takeaways:
- According to Finland’s finance minister, the nation will send “tens of millions” of euros to the conflict-torn Ukraine via the sale of confiscated Bitcoins.
- The cryptocurrency was discovered during a drug operation and was given to the state by court orders.
- After much deliberation over what to do with the cryptocurrency, the nation opted to support Ukraine’s efforts to sell it.
Finland has made $46.5 million euros ($47.4 million) from the sale of 1,889 bitcoins that were seized in drug cases. According to prior statements made by the nation’s finance minister, the earnings from the sale of bitcoins will be used to aid Ukraine in its ongoing battle with Russia and to rebuild the country.
Beginning to spread around the market was the report that Finland had sold Bitcoins and donated the proceeds to Ukraine. People discovered, after learning more about the news, that the bitcoins being sold were actually taken during raids by the Finnish customs service.
The customs division of the Finnish government, known as Tulli, declared on Thursday that it had sold bitcoins that had been “legally forfeited.” The release states, “During the summer, Finnish Customs realized its cryptocurrency that had been legitimately forfeited to the state,” further explaining:
“There were 1,889.1 bitcoins in the realization. The overall earnings from their sale brought in roughly 46.5 million euros for the state.”
The cryptocurrency was discovered during a drug operation and was given to the state by court orders. After much deliberation over what to do with the cryptocurrency, the nation opted to support Ukraine’s efforts to sell it.
Without disclosing the dollar figure, Finland’s Finance Minister Annika Saarikko said on Wednesday that the choice was “appropriate and proper.” She claimed that the government is prepared to give away tens of millions “from the earnings of Bitcoin that Finnish Customs confiscated.”
According to Finald’s customs, two digital asset companies—Coinmotion and Tesseract—were chosen as the firms handling the auction of the seized Bitcoins. Officials scrutinized both businesses and were pleased with their “procedures to prevent money.”
The statement claims that Finland presently has 1,981 Bitcoin, which is worth roughly €75 million at the current exchange rate and were taken by customs agents during criminal investigations.
Furthermore, Finnish Customs disclosed that it still held 90 bitcoins “pending a legal judgment of forfeiture.” At the time of writing, the price of one bitcoin is $22,874, down 10% over the previous seven days but up 14.4% over the previous 30.
Tulli noted that other cryptocurrencies had also been taken. The currencies or their values, however, “cannot be discussed in detail” because the investigation into these cases is ongoing, according to Finnish Customs, who added that they are only worth “hundreds of thousands of euros at most.”
Finland is not the only nation in the world to have used this strategy. In nine auctions since 2014, the U.S. Marshals agency claims to have sold 187,381 in confiscated Bitcoin, but it has been reticent to reveal the actual value of the sales. The proceeds from these trades would have totaled $179 million, according to NBC.
Pekka Pylkkänen, director of finance at Tulli, told the Finnish news agency STT that the majority of the bitcoin (1,666 BTC) seized and sold in the summer was seized in 2016 following the arrest of Finnish drug dealer Douppikauppa. A number of years in prison were imposed on the drug dealer by the Turku Court of Appeal in 2017.
Prior to April, the Finnish Government disclosed its plans to give the revenues from bitcoins that were seized to aid Ukraine in its ongoing conflict with Russia. The report indicated that the bitcoins in question had been seized by the nation’s customs during its investigations into narcotics trafficking, and it also referenced many unnamed, knowledgeable sources.
