A Bitcoin wallet linked to former Irish cannabis dealer Clifton Collins transferred 500 BTC worth $39.56 million to Coinbase Prime on August 28, 2026. The multi-million-dollar valuation came as Bitcoin traded around $79,120 per coin at the time of the transaction.
Collins’s assets originated from his drug trafficking operations between late 2011 and early 2012. He converted the cash proceeds from selling cannabis into 6,000 BTC. At the time, Bitcoin’s value was still relatively low, trading at around $5 per coin. To conceal his fortune, Collins devised a specialized storage scheme by splitting the entire stash across 12 separate digital wallets, allocating 500 BTC to each wallet. The private keys for each address were printed on paper sheets and hidden inside the aluminum cap of his fishing rod in County Galway.
Buried in a Landfill
The fate of the multi-million-dollar fortune took a turn after police arrested Collins in 2017. Following his detention, authorities conducted a cleanout of his remaining property. The fishing rod holding access to the unprecedented digital wealth was not recognized for what it was and is believed to have ended up in a local waste disposal facility.
Although the original keys were destroyed, law enforcement authorities apparently found another way. Irish authorities partnered with Europol to breach the security of Collins’s wallets. The results were announced in March 2026 when the first wallet containing 500 BTC was unlocked and the funds were sent to Coinbase Prime. Two months later, in May 2026, a second wallet was breached, with coins flowing to a Binance deposit address belonging to market-making firm Wintermute. The recovery continued in July with the unlocking of a third wallet through Europol’s intervention.
Awaiting Confirmation from Irish Authorities
The transfer of 500 BTC on August 28 points to the unlocking of a fourth wallet. However, representatives of the Irish Criminal Assets Bureau have not yet issued an official statement regarding their role behind the latest transaction. In total, 2,000 BTC out of Collins’s original 6,000 BTC stash have now been moved from their original wallets.
Questions regarding the recovery method remain unanswered. The European policing agency has not disclosed what technology or procedures were used to gain access to the network without possessing the original private keys.
The destination of the latest wallet transfer provides clues regarding the intent behind it. Coinbase Prime is not a retail trading platform, but rather a custody venue for institutional clients, corporations, and government agencies. Deposits on platforms of this type typically serve as a means to secure legally seized assets, rather than signaling that the coin supply will be dumped onto the open market anytime soon.
Reported by crypto.news.
Disclaimer: This article is for informational and educational purposes only, not financial advice. Cryptocurrency assets are highly volatile and carry significant risk. Always do your own research (DYOR) and never invest more than you can afford to lose.
