In a groundbreaking development, Ireland’s Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) and Europol have managed to access a Bitcoin wallet that had remained dormant for almost a decade. The 500 BTC, valued at approximately $35 million, was officially moved to Coinbase on March 24, after being inaccessible since its creation.
The wallet in question belonged to Clifton Collins, a Dublin resident who was convicted for his role in extensive cannabis cultivation operations across several counties in Ireland. Before his descent into the world of drug production, Collins worked as a security guard and beekeeper, relying on illicit profits to fund his cryptocurrency investments.
Between 2011 and 2012, Collins purchased around 6,000 Bitcoin when prices were still uninspiringly low, predominantly in single-digit figures. He strategically distributed these assets across 12 separate wallets, ensuring that each contained 500 BTC. To secure access, Collins printed the private keys on a sheet of paper and stowed it away in a fishing rod case situated in his rented accommodation in Galway.
However, Collins’ criminal activities caught up with him in 2017 during a standard traffic stop when police discovered cannabis in his vehicle. Following his arrest, the landlord not only cleared out the property but also inadvertently sent many of Collins’ belongings—possibly including the fishing rod case—to a landfill.
This incident led to the unfortunate destruction of the only known copy of the private keys. In subsequent years, Collins speculated that a break-in prior to his arrest may have contributed to the loss of his Bitcoin fortune. In 2020, an Irish High Court ordered the confiscation of the Bitcoin, which at that point was valued around €53 million. Now, the total value of the 6,000 BTC has soared to approximately €360 million.
Despite the court’s ruling, CAB had been unable to access the Bitcoin without the private keys, leaving both authorities and Collins believing the digital assets were irretrievably lost.
How the Investigation Unfolded
Europol and CAB have chosen not to divulge the specific methods they employed to unlock the wallet, with Europol stating it contributed “highly complex technical expertise and decryption resources.”
Speculations surrounding the investigators’ success range from Collins potentially having stored his keys in an encrypted file with weak password protection to the possibility of a flawed key generation process that resulted in predictable outputs from a sub-par random number generator.
Encouragingly for investigators, they believe the same technique used to access Collins’ first wallet could be applied to the remaining 11 wallets, collectively holding a staggering value over €330 million.
What Lies Ahead
As it stands, Collins still retains 5,500 BTC, which is valued at around $389 million according to Arkham data. The potential recovery of these assets could represent the largest single semiconductor seizure in the bureau’s storied history.
According to Arkham, among the 6,000 BTC held by Irish drug dealer Clifton Collins—previously believed to be permanently lost—500 BTC (worth about $35.44 million) were moved on March 24 at 12:51 after nearly 10 years of dormancy and transferred into Coinbase. Collins currently… pic.twitter.com/0IqBjrUlU3
— Wu Blockchain (@WuBlockchain) March 25, 2026
This recent 500 BTC transfer, marking the first confirmed access to any of Collins’ wallets since his arrest nearly nine years ago, has reinvigorated interest among investigators eager to unlock the remaining assets. If CAB and Europol succeed in reclaiming the full 6,000 BTC, it would undoubtedly mark a historic moment in the battle against financial crime.
