An Arkham report reveals that around 45,000 bitcoins linked to the Movie2K site have never been seized by Germany. Their value borders on $ 5 billion. We give you all the details in this article.
In short
- Arkham identifies 45,000 BTC linked to Movie2K, not seized and inactive since 2019.
- Germany will have to prove the illicit origin of funds to hope to take control of it on Bitcoin funds.
Germany in the face of a complex legal proceedings
Arkham Intelligence has just published an analysis pointing towards A cluster of more than 45,000 BTC Distributed over a hundred wallets. These funds would come from income generated by Movie2K. It is an active film hacking site until the late 2010s.
According to Arkham, the BTCs concerned have not moved since 2019. This suggests that they still belong to the former operators of the site. Concretely, the report specifies that the addresses identified have movements identical to those already associated with Movie2K in previous judicial inquiries.
No recent movement has been observed. The aggregate of portfolios, still in sleep, therefore reaches today a value close to $ 4.99 billion According to the current Bitcoin price.
“To recover these BTCs, the authorities will have to demonstrate their direct link with the illegal MOVIE2K activities. A requirement which represents a heavy evidence, especially since the identified portfolios remain out of the technical reach of the investigators.
Decryption: Without private keys or control over addresses, the seizure remains legally and technically inaccessible. Until now, no authority has publicly recognized the existence of these funds (and this, despite their traceability).
Bitcoin entry: a potential loss of several billion for Berlin
This discovery comes a few months after a major operation. In January 2024, German police had indeed obtained The voluntary delivery of 49,858 BTC by two suspects linked to Movie2K. The authorities had described this recovery as the greatest seizure of Bitcoin ever carried out in the country.
But these bitcoins were sold between June and July 2024, at an average price of $ 57,900. This generated a total product estimated at 2.8 billion dollars.
There Plus-value not done So today exceeds $ 2 billion. This difference revives criticism around the public management of digital assets, even if German law requires the rapid sale of volatile assets to limit the risk of losses.
In any case, this case relaunches discussions around a sovereign strategy on Bitcoin. The question is whether Germany will decide to keep its BTC rather than liquidate them as soon as they are seized. This orientation would directly influence the perception of the country on the Crypto market.
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