Lithuania Government Cashes in Seized Crypto Worth €6.4 Million
Brian Njuguna Nov 25, 2020 01:30
Through the State Tax Inspectorate (STI), the Lithuania government has cashed in €6.4 million and slotted it in the state budget after selling seized cryptocurrencies.
Through the State Tax Inspectorate (STI), the Lithuania government has cashed in €6.4 million worth of seized cryptocurrency, approximately $7.6 million, and slotted the profits straight into the state budget. This marked the first time confiscated crypto was being sold on Lithuanian soil, and the process was lengthy taking nearly a day.
Seized cryptocurrencies on the rise
Irina Gavrilova, a State Tax Inspectorate representative, acknowledged:
“The whole process for the tax administrator was new, starting with the taking over of the confiscated cryptocurrency and ending with its implementation.”
This revelation comes in the wake of the biggest seizure of Bitcoin worth $1 billion by the United States Department of Justice (DoJ), originating from an unnamed hacker earlier this month. This capture took place with the help of blockchain analysis because law enforcers were able to scrutinize and pinpoint crypto wallets used to aid the sale of narcotics on Silk Road, a leading darknet marketplace before it was shut down by law enforcement.
It, therefore, shows that global governments are working round the clock to track and capture crypto used in illegal activities. This quest was recently boosted after blockchain surveillance company Chainalysis launched an asset realization program to assist law enforcement and government agencies with monitoring, realizing, and storing seized crypto assets.
Privacy coins on the spotlight
The STI affirmed that the confiscated cryptocurrencies were seized in February. They comprised Ethereum(ETH), Monero(XMR), and Bitcoin(BTC).
Privacy-oriented cryptos or privacy coins like Monero have been in the limelight because they are designed in such a way that they protect the identity of the user transacting.
This is one of the reasons why South Korea’s Financial Services Commission (FSC) recently announced that it would ban privacy-centric digital assets or “dark coins” from crypto exchanges as they presented a high money laundering and illegal activity risk.
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