Afshin Sazegar | When Bitcoins improve the cash registers - As Heise reported on 2 October, bitcoins worth 650,000 euros were confiscated in 2019 in Lower Saxony. In the years 2010-2018, however, it was only 410,000 euros. In the next few weeks, the public prosecutor's office in Göttingen will use around four Bitcoin. This is currently equivalent to an approximate value of 30,000 euros. The rising revenue from the confiscated virtual coins can be explained by the rising price of Bitcoin and the growing number of crimes around the Coins. According to Heise, the coins will be used for money laundering, extortion or illegal activities in the Darknet. Lower Saxony's Justice Minister Barbara Havliza (CDU) explains: "Cyber attacks on hospitals or administrations are a real threat to all of us."
The authorities are not waiting for lucrative price increases
The authorities are different in disposing of digital money than classic crypto fans might. So it happens that the authorities use the cryptocurrencies as soon as it is legally possible. Accordingly, the authorities are not waiting for lucrative price fluctuations. In 2017, the Berlin Public Prosecutor's Office seized around 64 bitcoins. At that time, the coins were worth 76,000 euros. Within just a few months, however, the value rose to 700,000 euros. Incidentally, other states are also active in terms of the seizure of seized cryptocurrencies and extremely successful. The state of Bavaria earned a total of 12 million euros in virtual currencies in 2017.