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For more than ten years, the crypto world assumed Clifton Collins’s Bitcoin was gone. The Irish drug dealer had reportedly tossed the seed phrases to his wallets, and conventional wisdom held that thousands of BTC were rotting in a landfill somewhere alongside the paper they were scribbled on.
Ireland’s Criminal Assets Bureau, working alongside Europol, has now recovered a second tranche of 500 BTC linked to Collins, worth roughly $38M at current prices. Combined with the first 500 BTC seized in March 2026, that brings the total haul to 1,000 BTC, valued at approximately $73M.
From cannabis farms to crypto forensics
Collins was convicted in 2018 for cannabis cultivation and distribution. Between late 2011 and early 2012, he purchased approximately 6,000 BTC. At the time, Bitcoin was trading in the single digits.
After his conviction, authorities seized various assets but believed most of his Bitcoin was irretrievable. Collins had claimed the seed phrases were lost, and 12 dormant wallets linked to him sat completely inactive for over a decade.
On March 24, 2026, the first wallet woke up. The Criminal Assets Bureau transferred 500 BTC, valued at around $35M, in what became the first confirmed recovery. Blockchain analytics firm Arkham Intelligence flagged the movement, having labeled the wallets as “Clifton Collins: Lost Keys.” Arkham confirmed the funds were routed to Coinbase Prime custody.
The second wallet was unlocked in May 2026. Same playbook, same destination, but this time worth approximately $38M thanks to Bitcoin’s price appreciation between March and May.
How do you crack a wallet without the keys?
Europol’s Cybercrime Centre provided the technical expertise and decryption assistance that made both recoveries possible. The specifics of how they accessed the wallets haven’t been publicly detailed.
The wallets were dormant for over a decade before any movement. That means Collins wasn’t secretly accessing them from prison. Whatever method authorities used, it worked on wallets that their owner couldn’t, or wouldn’t, open himself.
Arkham Intelligence had been monitoring the Collins wallets publicly, labeling them and tracking their status. When the coins moved, the blockchain community knew almost immediately who was behind it and where the funds landed.
What this means for investors and the broader market
Collins still has roughly 5,000 BTC unaccounted for from his original purchases. If authorities cracked two wallets, the remaining coins, if they’re still in recoverable wallets, could represent another $350M-plus at current prices.
Regulated custody solutions like Coinbase Prime being the endpoint for seized assets reinforces the legitimacy of established infrastructure. Stronger law enforcement capabilities, demonstrated here through Ireland’s CAB partnering with Europol’s Cybercrime Centre, make the crypto ecosystem harder for criminals to exploit.
Disclosure: This article was edited by Editorial Team. For more information on how we create and review content, see our Editorial Policy.
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