Ireland’s Criminal Assets Bureau and Europol have secured another 500 BTC tied to Clifton Collins, bringing recovered funds from the dormant wallet cluster to 1,000 BTC.
Summary
- Bitcoin seizure grew after Ireland and Europol secured another 500 BTC from Clifton Collins-linked wallets.
- Arkham data shows 1,000 BTC have moved from the dormant entity since March 2026 now.
- About 5,000 BTC remain labeled as lost keys, keeping the Irish case under market watch.
Ireland’s Criminal Assets Bureau said it secured another cryptocurrency wallet linked to an earlier criminal case, with support from Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre. The wallet held 500 Bitcoin, worth about $38.7 million at the time of the reported move.
The bureau said Europol hosted operational meetings in The Hague and supplied “highly complex technical expertise and decryption resources” that helped investigators access the wallet. Earlier related coverage reported that CAB had already seized 500 Bitcoin from a Collins-linked wallet in March.
Collins Bitcoin cache returns to focus
The case traces back to Clifton Collins, an Irish drug dealer who bought 6,000 Bitcoin in late 2011 and early 2012 using proceeds from cannabis sales. The Guardian reported that Bitcoin traded near $5 when Collins acquired the coins.
Collins printed the private keys on paper and hid them inside the aluminum cap of a fishing rod case at a rented home in County Galway. After his 2017 arrest, the property was cleared, and the fishing gear was believed to have been taken to a dump.
Arkham tracks 1,000 BTC in movements
Arkham said a wallet linked to Collins moved another 500 BTC, worth about $38 million. The blockchain analytics firm said the move followed an earlier 500 BTC transfer to Coinbase Custody in March, bringing total funds moved from the entity to 1,000 BTC.
The latest 500 BTC did not follow the same route. Arkham said the new transfer went to a Wintermute-linked Binance deposit address, while the March transfer went to Coinbase Custody.
Lost-keys case remains active
Arkham’s public Clifton Collins page tracks wallets, holdings, inflows, outflows and counterparties tied to the entity. The page confirms the blockchain analytics label, though full transaction tables require login.
Arkham said Collins bought 6,000 BTC in 2011 and 2012, and that the private keys were long assumed lost after the fishing rod case was discarded. The firm added that another 500 BTC leaving the wallets shows the once-dormant stash is active again.
Moreover, the latest movement also comes as on-chain watchers track other government-linked crypto wallets. Arkham maintains a U.S. Government entity page that tracks holdings, wallets, inflows, outflows and counterparties.
For Ireland, the Collins case now stands as a rare example of authorities gaining access to Bitcoin once widely viewed as unreachable. Around 5,000 BTC still appear tied to the broader lost-keys cache, leaving the case open for further wallet activity.
