4000 Users Signed Up to Bid for Germany’s Seized Bitcoin Auction

The Justice Ministry of Germany’s biggest state by population, North Rhine-Westphalia, is auctioning a stash of seized Bitcoin worth an “8-digit-number.” These were seized in cybercrime cases, mostly from the Darknet.

The auction saw a frenzy as cryptocurrency enthusiasts turned up to acquire Bitcoin at a bargain. About 4,000 new users registered on the auction platform in the last few days.

The minimum bid was 42,400 euros ($49,281) in the auction that began Monday, and the first bidder offered 56,060 euros. As of writing, Bitcoin is trading at $62,200, down 6.5% from the $67k all-time high made last week but up over 113% YTD and 111% from July low.

“Silk Road coins years ago dealt at 10% premium to spot at govt auction. If the Gox BTC came to market as a single block, it’d trade at a premium to spot” because they have “no market impact,” said Su Zhu, CEO, and co-founder of Three Arrows Capital.

Prosecutors in Germany can’t sell seized Bitcoin on the market and are required to auction them as they do for other big-ticket luxury items that the law enforcement takes into its possession.

“Each euro that’s extracted from criminal networks helps weakens them,” the Justice Ministry said on Twitter.

Proceeds will go to North Rhine-Westphalia’s treasury, said a translated report by Süddeutsche Zeitung.