Belgian government decides to sell $125,000-worth of seized Bitcoin

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Updated on Mar 11, 2020

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The UK and Ireland-based auction house, Wilsons Auctions Dublin, is about to hold an auction for Bitcoin seized by the Belgian government.
This will be the first crypto auction in Ireland, even though Wilsons' sold seized crypto assets for governments and law enforcement agencies in the past.
The auction house's official noted that Wilsons has clients from 90 countries, who prefer buying coins from such an established and trustworthy institution.

The Belgian government has finally decided to sell its stash of seized Bitcoin in an auction held by the Wilsons Auctions, a major UK and Ireland-based auction house. Wilsons posted an announcement on March 6th, revealing that the auction will be hosted by Wilsons Auctions Dublin, and that it will take place in a few weeks, on March 24th.

The coins in question were seized by the Belgian Federal government, which confiscated them in numerous criminal cases. Now, the government finally decided to dispose of the coins, in an unreserved auction.

Wilsons’ previous crypto auctions

Wilsons itself has held cryptocurrency auctions in the past on behalf of its clients, but this one will be the first public online auction of digital currencies in Ireland. The auction house’s asset recovery executive, Mark Woods, revealed that the format was rather popular among the customers, who prefer bidding online and purchasing crypto from an established and reputable institution.

He added that the customers prefer this method, instead of going on online exchanges, which feature daunting and risky processes. Wilsons itself offers help to novices in the space of crypto trading and investing, allowing them to join and participate on a “level playing field.”

He also spoke positively about Wilsons’ recent collaborations with international experts, government agencies, and law enforcement, pointing out that the current strategy allows the auction house to stay at the forefront of new developments.

Wilsons itself also revealed that it has bidders from more than 90 countries in a previous auction that sold Belgian government-seized cryptos earlier in the year. Another auction sold Monero (XMR) seized by the UK law enforcement, and it was held in January 2020. Another auction took place in late 2019, and it saw the sale of multiple crypto assets.

Similar events have become quite common ways for governments to dispose of confiscated coins, and even the US has been using a similar format for assets seized during Silk Road crackdown.