After seven years of technical deadlock, Ireland's Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) has successfully cracked a dormant Bitcoin wallet containing 500 BTC, worth approximately $32 million (€30 million) at current market prices. This marks the first breakthrough in a massive cryptocurrency forfeiture case involving 6,000 BTC seized in 2019 from cannabis trafficker Clifton Collins.
Collins, a former beekeeper turned marijuana kingpin, had meticulously hidden his illicit earnings across 12 separate digital wallets. The keys to this digital fortune were printed on an A4 piece of paper and concealed inside the aluminum cap of a fishing rod case at his rented property in County Galway.
When Collins was arrested during a routine patrol in 2017, his landlord cleared the property. The fishing rod—and the precious paper—was discarded by workers, who later recalled seeing the equipment at a local dump. Ultimately, the waste was shipped to incinerators in Germany and China, destroying the only access to the Bitcoin. Both Collins and the Irish state were locked out for years, watching the value of the coins soar by 17,815% from roughly $9,000 per BTC at the time of seizure.
Europol's High-Tech Intervention
The breakthrough came not from luck but from a coordinated technical offensive. The CAB secured support from Europol's European Cybercrime Centre (EC3), which provided advanced decryption resources and expertise. Using a specialized 'skeleton key' approach, investigators bypassed the security of the first wallet for the first time since 2019.
On March 24, 2026, blockchain tracker Btcparser.com detected the movement of 500 BTC from a wallet originally created in 2016. The funds were sent to Coinbase, indicating that the Irish state had finally gained control of the asset. The successful unlock has given investigators renewed confidence that the same method can be applied to the remaining 11 wallets.
Collins had previously forfeited around €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. But those sums pale in comparison to the $378 million (€360 million) held in the 12 wallets today.
What's Next: The Full $378M Haul in Play
The High Court in Dublin has already ruled that all Bitcoin accounts are proceeds of crime and have been officially forfeited to the state. If the CAB can replicate the breakthrough, the total recovery would dwarf every other asset seized by the bureau combined. It would be the largest cryptocurrency forfeiture in Irish history.
This case underscores a crucial lesson in crypto asset recovery: even when physical keys are destroyed, digital locks can still be broken with the right partners. As the CAB noted, being 'lost' in the world of crypto-forfeiture is often a temporary state—provided you have Europol on speed dial.
The remaining 5,500 BTC, worth approximately $346 million, now hangs in the balance. But after seven years of waiting, Ireland is one step closer to fully cashing in its winning lottery ticket.