Finnish Customs sold forfeited bitcoin for $47 million

The entire amount is going to be donated to Ukraine.

Finnish Customs announced has sold a total of 1889.1 bitcoins that had been legally forfeited to the State, gaining about €46.5 million ($47.35 million) from their sale. Back in November 2021 – when the coin was traded at $68,000 – the loot seized by the Finnish authorities would have been worth a whopping $130 million.

According to what has been revealed by the finnish autorities, Customs has seized the surprising amount of bitcoins in connection with investigations into offences related to narcotics and doping substances. The bitcoins were then sold by the two cryptocurrency brokers selected by Customs through competitive negotiated procedure in late spring. 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.

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.

Finland says that the cash is going to be donated to Ukraine, in what will become the biggest crypto-related contribution that the country has received.