Irish police restore access to bitcoin wallet with 500 BTC

The Irish police have announced a success in the case of convicted drug trafficker Clifton Collins: law enforcement officers have gained access to one of his bitcoin wallets, which was previously considered irretrievably lost. This wallet contained 500 BTC worth more than $ 35 million. The operation was conducted with the support of the European Cybercrime Center Europol, which provided technical expertise and resources for decryption.

This is one of 12 wallets on which Collins deposited a total of 6,000 BTC in 2011−2012, acquired with drug trafficking proceeds. He stored the access codes on an A4 sheet of paper hidden in a fishing rod case. After being arrested in 2017 and sentenced to five years in prison, this sheet disappeared, and for a long time it was believed that the keys were lost forever.

According to Arkham, a wallet labeled «Clifton Collins: Lost Keys» wallet transferred 500 BTC to Coinbase Prime this week — more than a decade after the first coin transfer. The platform also indicates that Collins controls 14 addresses with a total balance of 5,500 BTC, worth more than $ 391 million.

The Irish Times reminds that Collins was arrested after a search of his car, where a cache of cannabis was found. The investigation found that he grew and sold drugs, and invested the proceeds in bitcoin at an early stage of its development.

This case was a rare example of a successful recovery of access to a cryptocurrency wallet after the loss of keys. Cointelegraph emphasizes that usually the loss of a private key means a complete impossibility of a refund, as public-key cryptography does not allow the recovery of passwords. Therefore, the operation of the Irish police and Europol is of exceptional importance for the practice of fighting cybercrime.