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Finland Raises 47.5M After Selling Stash of Seized Bitcoin
Finland has secured $47.5 million after selling around 1,890 seized Bitcoin (BTC). Yle, Finland’s national public broadcasting company, reported, citing an announcement from the Finnish Customs on Thursday, July 21. According to the agency, the BTC came from drug busts and was legally forfeited to the state after court rulings.
The bulk of the BTC – around 1,666 came from raids before 2018. However, Finnish authorities took their time before deciding what to do with the funds. The government announced a tender for crypto brokers to help convert the BTC into hard cash in July 2021. In April 2022, the government selected two brokers, namely Coinmotion Oy and Tesseract Group Oy.
Despite fetching $47.5 million from the BTC, the Finnish government’s timing to liquidate the tokens is poor. If the government had sold the 1,890 BTC after the cryptocurrency hit its peak, it would have added approximately $130 million to its coffers.
Following the same of the 1,890 BTC, the Finnish Customs now holds around 90 BTC. However, the agency awaits a valid forfeiture judgment before selling the tokens. On top of the 90 BTC, the country also possesses other cryptocurrencies.
The customs agency said these altcoins are related to active investigations. To this end, it cannot disclose the names of the tokens it holds or how much they are worth.
Finland Plans to Donate Some of the Funds to Ukraine
In April, Finland Finance Minister Annika Saarikko said the government would use a significant portion of the funds to help Ukraine.
She added:
For me, ‘significant’ means that more than half will be targeted at Ukraine.
At the time, Saarikko estimated that the government would get $70-80 million after selling the BTC. However, the crypto space entered a prolonged bear market soon afterward. As a result, BTC plunged, wiping off almost 50% of the estimated value.
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The Finnish Customs did not disclose whether it still plans to donate half of the BTC sale proceeds to Ukraine.
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