For the first time in the history of Germany, the authorities of one of the federal states auctioned off virtual currency (bitcoins) confiscated by the cybercrime department of the prosecutor’s office. A unique two-day auction began on October 25, 2021 at the Cologne prosecutor’s office with such excitement that, according to observers, the budget of North Rhine-Westphalia after the end of the auction will be replenished by no less than 10 million very real euros.
The lots offered for sale by the federal state’s justice ministry – of course online, are data packets of different sizes – from 10 to 0.1 bitcoins. Considering that the market value of bitcoin at the moment is almost 54 thousand euros, even the smallest package will cost a buyer several hundred euros.
Buyers are willing to pay more than market value
The starting price of the lot (1 bitcoin) was set at 80% of its market value, in this case € 42,500. However, as journalists, following the course of the auction in real time, write, within two minutes there was no end to the offers. At 12:30 pm, the Minister of Justice of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia Peter Biesenbach announced that Bitcoin had gone under the hammer for 56,090 euros, which is almost 2,000 euros higher than its current market value.
Peter Biesenbach, Minister of Justice of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia
At the time of publication of DW’s material on the auction site, a package of 0.1 bitcoin was offered for 6,965 euros. Self-pickup is indicated as an opportunity to receive the purchased goods. What is the reason for this excitement? After all, bitcoins can also be bought on completely legal sites on the Internet.
This is so, but in the latter case, the buyer does not know until the last moment whether he will receive his goods, Jochen Hilgers, an expert at the German public-legal media company WDR, comments: “And the state is a very good business partner for whom can rely”.
Where does the Cologne prosecutor’s office get cryptocurrency?
Bitcoin is often used to pay for illegal transactions on the Internet
Where did the authorities of North Rhine-Westphalia get so many bitcoins from? As Markus Hartmann, head of the Cologne prosecutor’s office for combating cybercrime, explained in an interview with WDR, “the auction mainly includes what can be confiscated in investigations related to drug trafficking on the Internet.”
“Both on the darknet and on the Internet, on criminal sites, criminals sell drugs by accepting payment in bitcoins.. – Ed.) and it goes to auction, “adds Hartman.
Bitcoin supporters and critics
Meanwhile, more and more manufacturers of goods and services in the world accept bitcoins for payment. However, many people are still skeptical about cryptocurrency to this day. The fact is that it is it that is often used to pay for illegal transactions on the Internet, including the sale of drugs or child pornography.
In China, at the end of September 2021, the trading of bitcoins and other cryptocurrencies was even outlawed. The People’s Bank of the PRC claims that it (cryptocurrency trading) “undermined the economic and financial order” in the PRC and “contributed to illegal capital raising, fraud and other criminal activities.”
Cryptocurrency critics also point out that a colossal amount of electricity is consumed in the production or “extraction” (mining) of bitcoins. After all, the rise in the cost of bitcoin is pushing miners to include more and more computers in their networks. According to the University of Cambridge, the annual production of bitcoins requires more electricity than Argentina consumes in the same time: 121.36 terawatt hours.
Residents of El Salvador, dissatisfied with the recognition of bitcoin as an official currency
At the end of March 2021, American entrepreneur Elon Musk announced that Tesla, an electric vehicle manufacturer, would accept bitcoins for payment. However, Musk withdrew this decision in May, stressing that he wants to wait until the production of cryptocurrency becomes more environmentally friendly.
On September 7, 2021, El Salvador became the first country in the world to recognize bitcoin as an official currency. A law has come into force in the country, according to which this cryptocurrency is accepted as a means of payment – on a par with the US dollar. You can pay with it for all goods and services. However, the residents reacted to this step with great skepticism. In two surveys, more than two-thirds of respondents were in favor of keeping the US dollar as the country’s only currency.
See also:
.