A dormant bitcoin wallet linked to Irish drug dealer Clifton Collins moved 500 BTC — worth roughly $35 million — on March 24, after sitting untouched for a decade.
According to Arkham Intelligence data, the wallet labeled “Clifton Collins: Lost Keys” transferred the funds to an unknown address, which then distributed the bitcoin across dozens of addresses, with $13.5 million deposited into Coinbase Prime.
Police likely behind the move
The Irish Times reported the transfer was likely carried out by the Garda Síochána, Ireland’s national police force.
The Garda’s Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) confirmed Tuesday that it had seized and gained access to a wallet containing 500 BTC identified as proceeds of crime, with Europol’s cybercrime center assisting in the operation.
Irish police have not officially confirmed the wallet’s ownership or how they accessed the funds, but the CAB previously seized bitcoin from Collins in 2020, raising the likelihood this was a police-led recovery.
From beekeeper to bitcoin buyer
Collins, a former beekeeper, began growing and selling cannabis in 2005 and used the profits to buy bitcoin in late 2011 and early 2012, when it was worth just a few dollars.
By 2017, he had roughly 6,000 BTC spread across 12 wallets, with private keys printed on paper and hidden inside a fishing rod case at a rented house in County Galway.
That same year, Collins was arrested and sentenced to five years in prison.
He reportedly lost track of the fishing rod case during his prison term, possibly due to a clear-out of the rented property.
A $30,000 bet worth $427 million
Collins originally purchased his 6,000 BTC for around $30,000 in 2011 and 2012.
At current bitcoin prices, that stash is now worth over $427 million — a staggering return driven by bitcoin’s rise from a few dollars to over $70,000 per coin.
The 500 BTC recovered in Tuesday’s operation represents just a fraction of the full 6,000 BTC stash, with the remaining wallets still unaccounted for.
