The Custom authority of Finland has announced that it is looking to hire brokers to sell 1,981 Bitcoins seized from illegal drug dealer networks to convert them into fiat currency. At the time of writing, the bitcoins in question are worth about $79 million and currently are held by Finnish Customs.

Pekka Pylkkanen, the director of finances at the Finnish Customs government agency, talked about the development and said that Finland’s customs authority is looking to sell the Bitcoins via a broker, stating that a broker will ensure a reliable and safe selling of the crypto assets.

According to the report, Finland’s customs authority plans to sign up to three brokers for a two-year deal valued at about €250,000 ($297,000). It could reach as much as €2 million if the government agency seizes more Bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies. That range takes into account the volatile price movement of cryptocurrencies.

The customs agency confiscated the majority of the seized Bitcoins (1,666 out of 1,981) in 2016 after arresting Finnish drug dealer Douppikauppa.

During that time, the government told authorities that they were prohibited from storing the coins on crypto exchanges and was advised to keep them off digital platforms.

At the time of confiscation, the bitcoins were worth about $860,000, but currently, they are valued at more than $79 million.

In 2018, the customs authority was looking to sell Bitcoins through auction, but the agency did not proceed with the plans because there were concerns that the crypto assets would end back in criminal hands.

Now the price of Bitcoin has skyrocketed, Finland’s customs authority wants to liquidate the seized coins as soon as possible in the coming months.

Direct Seizures and Sales of Cryptos

In recent years, multiple nations have sold crypto-assets seized during criminal investigations, with the US taking the lead in 2020.

In November 2020, the US Department of Justice seized more than $1 billion worth of Bitcoin linked to the Silk Road website’s criminal marketplace.

During that time, the Justice Department moved about 70,000 Bitcoins from an account believed to be linked to the illicit marketplace. Silk Road was an online black market for selling everything from drugs to murderers-for-hire and stolen credit cards.

The US government shut down the online black market in 2013. But the sum mentioned above was the largest amount of cryptocurrency seized to date by the Department of Justice.

In March 2021, the French government also auctioned off €28 million worth of Bitcoins seized from hackers in 2019.

Image source: Shutterstock

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has unveiled the role it has to play in helping to court the rapid advancement in digital money around the world.

Per a Reuters report, drawing on a Public Policy paper published by the Fund on Thursday, the IMF acknowledges the positive impacts all forms of digital money, including Central Bank Digital Currencies and stablecoins, amongst others, can have on an economy, noting the benefits could foster financial inclusion.

“Rapid technological innovation is ushering in a new era of public and private digital money,” the report reads, highlighting the benefits of digital assets. “Payments will become easier, faster, cheaper, and more accessible, and will cross borders swiftly. These improvements could foster efficiency and inclusion, with major benefits for all.”

The achievement of these benefits entails so much, and the IMF said it is ready to work with central banks around the world to “monitor, advise on, and help manage this far-reaching and complex transition” to a digital money era. According to the paper, IMF also submitted that it “has a critical role to play to help its members harness the benefits and manage the risks of digital money.”

The exploration of financial innovation through the launch of a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) by central banks and cryptocurrencies by private issuers is undoubtedly gaining momentum today. The IMF, in its role, has lent support for innovations of all kinds. However, it cautions against the quick shift by monetary watchdogs to endorse volatile private cryptocurrencies as legal tender as it has vocally criticised the related move made by El-Salvador.

Per the Reuters report, the IMF wants governments to step up and meet the financial benefits privately issued cryptocurrencies offer. However, it noted that “attempting to make cryptoassets a national currency is an inadvisable shortcut.”

Image source: Shutterstock

Large investors are continuously showing interest in having a share of the crypto sector cake. As a result, fundraising by crypto companies has seen a surge in valuations as more prominent players push prices upwards.

Crypto deals experiencing an uptick in price

According to PWC Crypto Leader Henri Arslanian:

“Boutique firms and family offices are being elbowed out by big venture-capital (VC) names, private equity players, and even some pension funds. Smaller venture capital firms are unhappy.”

Therefore, crypto deals are boiling down to a game of the highest bidder, given that they are catching the eye of bigger players like capital pension funds and private equities. As a result, an uptick in prices is being experienced.

Arslanian added:

“Let’s say they’re looking at a deal, and they believe it’s worth $10 million, and you see large VCs come in and put a bid in for a higher valuation. This is happening a lot with very early-stage companies, say, $5 million to $20 million — the prices are being inflated.”

Crypto deals have been heating up

Crypto deals have been on an upward trajectory triggered by a surge in this market. For instance, Bitcoin (BTC) rose to the psychological level of $40K after hitting lows of $29.5K recently.

As a result, the BTC futures market heated up as funding rates flipped positive across major exchanges, pointing to significant long positions being opened.

Moreover, the Bitcoin derivatives market showed bullish signs like perpetual swaps volume topping $86 billion and open interest increasing.

On the other hand, the upward momentum in the BTC market caused some traders to be caught in a massive liquidation. Therefore, total liquidations in the cryptocurrency ecosystem topped $1 billion.

Image source: Shutterstock