Collins-Linked Bitcoin Wallet Sends $41.5M to Coinbase Prime

A Bitcoin (BTC) wallet linked to convicted Irish drug dealer Clifton Collins moved 500 BTC, worth about $41.5 million, to a Coinbase Prime deposit address on Oct. 20, extending a series of transfers from his holdings.

The sending address had been inactive for more than 10 years. This was the fifth 500-BTC transfer this year from wallets linked to Collins, bringing the total moved to 2,500 BTC. It was the third consecutive transfer to the same deposit address.

Collins accumulated about 6,000 BTC in 2011 and 2012 and divided the coins among 12 wallets holding 500 BTC each. Access to the holdings was thought lost after a case containing printed private keys disappeared following his 2017 arrest. Private keys are the codes needed to move coins from a wallet.

Ireland’s Criminal Assets Bureau, which handles assets linked to crime, accessed and seized a 500-BTC wallet in March with help from Europol. The bureau announced further 500-BTC seizures in May and July. The Oct. 20 transaction shows coins reaching a Coinbase Prime address; it does not establish a sale or identify who authorized the transfer.