500 BTC Linked to Irish Drug Dealer Moved On-Chain After Nearly 10 Years of Inactivity

Odaily News According to Bitcoin News, 500 BTC linked to Irish drug dealer Clifton Collins have been moved on-chain after being considered lost for nearly a decade. Collins purchased 6,000 BTC between 2011 and 2012 using proceeds from marijuana sales, storing them across 12 wallets. He wrote the private keys on paper and hid them in a fishing rod box at a rental property in Galway, Ireland. After Collins' arrest in 2017, the property was cleared out and his belongings were sent to a landfill. Both the authorities and Collins himself believed the private keys were permanently lost, and the court ruled that the related funds were to be confiscated as proceeds of crime. The recent on-chain movement of 500 BTC indicates that at least a portion of these assets may not have been lost after all.