Bitcoin is still the most popular form of payment on the Darknet. Although payments for illegal transactions still make up a small proportion of the total trading volume, it is still firmly anchored in the Darknet. Just a few days ago, it was reported from Ireland that the Irish law enforcement agency CAB (Criminal Asset Bureau) arrested a Dublin man who was accused of selling drugs and subsequently laundering Bitcoin. Now the Power of 'Be Your Own Bank' comes into play and puts a stop to the police and the accused.
Drug dealer from Ireland with 6,000 bitcoins
49-year-old Clifton Collins has had a successful online cannabis trade for several years. He not only accepted payments in Bitcoin but also invested in Bitcoin between 2011 and 2012. The total amounts to 6,000 BTC, which has a current equivalent of approximately 53.6 million euros. That would currently be the largest confiscated sum in the history of the CAB. But things turned out a little differently than planned.
In 2017, Collins decided to store his holdings in BTC on different wallets after the Bitcoin price soared to protect himself from possible hacks. Collins distributed his BTC to a total of 12 different wallets and printed out the private key from paper. Collins then hid the paper wallets in a rented house. At this point it gets strange.
No private keys - no BTC
Collins was caught using cannabis later that year and jailed for five years. The person in charge is responsible for arranging house designs and containing the paper wallet and other things from the house. Thus, like the police, Collins has no access to the 6,000 bitcoins. Once the private key is gone, there is no way to belong to his BTC. That is also the power of "be your own bank". you are fully responsible for protecting your own assets. The north has a lot more freedom but also the risk that you can access it for more and more.
The question now has to be asked whether the bitcoins relate to always being lost or whether Collins may be to his prison sentence, in order to, in order to bring the private key to safety. If the story is true that belonged to the number codes on the papers and that was gone, then we have another 6,000 BTC that are lost forever.
It is currently heard that around four million Bitcoin are lost forever. So the number must go through the contracts ever further. Although people are much more careful with their access, their access will certainly lead to losses in the future. This reduced the total amount of Bitcoin and thus makes Bitcoin even 'rarer' every day.
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