Seven years after a routine patrol led to the largest crypto-forfeiture in Irish history, the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) has finally cracked the code on a multimillion-dollar bitcoin fortune once thought lost to a German incinerator. On Tuesday, The Irish Times reported that investigators achieved a massive technical breakthrough by gaining access to a dormant wallet containing 500 BTC, valued at roughly $32 million (€30 million). This single victory marks the first successful entry into a hoard of 6,000 bitcoin seized from former beekeeper turned cannabis mogul Clifton Collins back in 2019.
From Fishing Rods to Riches
For years, the CAB sat on a digital goldmine they simply couldn't touch. Collins, showing a penchant for old-school security, had diversified his illicit earnings across 12 different virtual addresses to protect his “honey” from prying eyes. The story of how the keys were lost has become the stuff of crypto-legend. Collins reportedly printed his private keys on an A4 piece of paper and stashed the document inside the aluminum cap of a fishing rod case at his rented County Galway property. Luck ran out for the beekeeper in 2017 following a routine patrol arrest, and while he was cooling his heels, his landlord had the property cleared out. Reports say workers at a local dump recalled seeing discarded fishing gear, but the paper—and the keys to a fortune—were shipped off to Germany and China to be incinerated.
The resulting lockout left both Collins and the Irish state staring at a screen they couldn't bypass for seven long years. During that time, the “lost” coins did what bitcoin has done over the years: they appreciated by 17,815% against the U.S. dollar. While the assets were worth a mere $9,000 per coin during the 2019 seizure, the current market climate has sent the total value of the 6,000 BTC soaring to approximately $378 million (€360 million). It seems even dormant bitcoins can't help but grow in value while sitting in a landfill-bound rod case.
Europol’s High-Tech Offensive
The recent breakthrough wasn’t a stroke of luck, but a high-tech offensive supported by Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre. The agency provided the CAB with high-level technical expertise and decryption resources to finally bypass the security of the first wallet. With one of the 12 wallets now wide open, the Irish state has secured its first $32 million slice of the pie. Investigators are now optimistic that the same technological “skeleton key” used for this wallet can be applied to the remaining 11 addresses. Bitcoin.com News discovered that the 500 BTC transferred today was sent to Coinbase. Should the CAB successfully drain the remaining 11 wallets, the total haul would dwarf the value of every other asset typically seized and sold by the bureau combined.
Back in the early days of the case, Collins gave up roughly €1.2 million in accessible assets, including a private plane, a camper van, a fishing boat, and about €1 million in Bitcoin from separate, unlocked accounts. Those figures now look like pocket change compared to the $378 million currently on the line. The High Court in Dublin has already ruled that these bitcoin accounts are the proceeds of crime and are officially forfeited to the state. For now, the Irish government is holding a winning lottery ticket that just needs a few more codes to fully cash out.
Implications for Crypto Enforcement
The CAB’s persistence proves that in the world of crypto-forfeiture, being “lost” is often just a temporary state of being—provided you have Europol on speed dial. This case sets a precedent for international cooperation in cracking encrypted wallets and recovering digital assets. It also serves as a cautionary tale for criminals who believe physical destruction of private keys guarantees permanent immunity. As technology evolves, law enforcement agencies are increasingly capable of bypassing even the most ingenious hiding methods. The remaining 5,500 BTC, worth over $345 million, may soon join the first 500 in state coffers, marking a historic victory in the battle between cryptocurrency and the long arm of the law.