German authorities may have missed around 45,000 Bitcoin tied to the movie piracy site Movie2K, meaning there could be another $5 billion worth of Bitcoin that could eventually be seized and sold.
Crypto intelligence platform Arkham said on Friday that it found more than 45,000 Bitcoin (BTC) that “still remains in wallets belonging to Movie2K,” which is worth “almost as much as the amount seized” last year by Germany.
German police seized nearly 50,000 BTC in January 2024, which it sold later that year, just months before the cryptocurrency’s price went on to nearly double in value.
The country has been derided for missing out on billions of dollars’ worth of additional money by selling the Bitcoin when it did, but prosecutors explained at the time that local laws dictate that they must quickly sell volatile assets such as cryptocurrencies to avoid a risk of loss.
Over 100 wallets holding potentially missed Bitcoin
Arkham said the new stash of Bitcoin, which its platform shows is 45,060 BTC, was “connected to earlier Movie2K movements and addresses.”
“This is most likely still under the control of the Movie2K operators. It has not moved since 2019, and is split across over 100 Bitcoin wallets,” it added.
Arkham said German authorities had not mentioned the Bitcoin it had found, and it wasn’t included in the sales that took place mid-last year.
Bitcoin is trading just under $111,000, putting the current value of the holdings at $4.99 billion, which would have been worth nearly $5.6 billion at Bitcoin’s $124,128 peak in mid-August.
Germany missed out on billions with mid-year 2024 sales
German prosecutors sold 49,858 Bitcoin at an average price of $57,900 in various sales spanning June and July 2024, netting a total of around $2.8 billion.
Just months later, in mid-November, Bitcoin surpassed $90,000 and rallied 75% from the average sale price to over $100,000 in December, which would have valued the sold Bitcoin at over $5 billion.
Police seized the Bitcoin in January of that year after two men they were investigating on suspicion of running Movie2K voluntarily transferred the funds to authorities, with authorities alleging that pair purchased Bitcoin using funds they had earned from the website.
Authorities called it “the most comprehensive seizure of Bitcoin by law enforcement agencies” ever made in Germany.
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Prosecutors started to sell the Bitcoin in batches across multiple exchanges in June and confirmed they had completed the sales in mid-July, adding that it was legally necessary for them to sell assets if there was a risk of losing at least 10% of their value.
Police would need to prove new Bitcoin is illicit
It’s not yet known how German authorities will react to Arkham’s findings, but if the police want to seize the Bitcoin, they will have to prove it’s tied to Movie2K.
Local laws dictate that authorities will have to prove in court that the Bitcoin is of illicit origin — somehow tied to the defunct piracy site — before they’re allowed to seize it.
Even then, police won’t be able to control the Bitcoin until they find who controls the over 100 wallets reported by Arkham and have their ownership transferred.
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