Finland has sold off the majority of its confiscated Bitcoin raising $47.5 million than $130 million due to the market downtrend. The value of the crypto asset has diminished considerably from its peak in November 2021.
Annika Saarikko the Finnish Finance Minister, tweeted that Finland would donate tens of millions of euros earned, through the sale of the confiscated Bitcoin, to Ukraine. A Customs spokesperson highlighted that this seems to be the intended use of the funds. The department said the sales revenue in total will be donated to war-torn Ukraine. The donation had been approved by the Finnish Parliament in the second supplementary budget this summer.
Finnish authorities had seized the cryptocurrency from drug raids prior to 2018. It had been legally forfeited to the state through court rulings. Sources revealed that the majority of the seized Bitcoin came from the raid of a Finnish drug dealer Douppikauppa. In 2016, authorities confiscated 1666.6 Bitcoin. The authorities had been contemplating what to do with the cryptocurrency.
An official statement highlighted that the aim of Finnish Customs is to make sure the cryptocurrencies are sold securely, in an effort to prevent further money laundering and criminal activities. The Customs had launched tender soliciting brokers who could reliably exchange the digital assets into fiat currency. As such, Finland liquidated 1,889.1 Bitcoin and raised $47.5 million.
Now, the Finnish Customs holds 90 Bitcoin awaiting a court ruling of forfeiture and an undisclosed amount of other cryptocurrencies.
