Irish Authorities Crack Drug Dealer's Bitcoin Wallet, Recover 500 BTC

Drug dealer Clifton Collins converted criminal proceeds into Bitcoin, storing about 6,000 BTC across 12 addresses. The private keys were once believed to have been sent to a landfill with his belongings. Ireland's Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) continued pursuing the assets, which could be worth about $378 million if recovered in full and could represent the country's largest-ever cryptocurrency seizure.

In 2026, with technical support from Europol, CAB cracked one of Collins' Bitcoin wallets and most recently recovered 500 BTC, transferring it to Coinbase. That brought the amount recovered during the year to 1,500 BTC. Authorities are still working on the remaining addresses. The breakthrough shows that law enforcement agencies may be able to recover crypto assets through digital forensics even when private keys have been missing for years.