It is pretty typical of government agencies to put up for sale confiscated Bitcoins during a bull run; the law enforcement agencies from South Korea are just the most recent example. The amount was worth $10.8 million when it was sold, and it came from a criminal after the police confiscated it in 2017.
The fiat obtained from the sale has been deposited in the national treasury of South Korea.
Authorities seized hold of the crypto assets in 2017 from a convicted operator of an adult-themed website. Back then, the amount was worth $238K, in total. In the meantime, it has grown by 4,400%, to reach the new level of $10.8M.
The decision to sell came as a result of “a new regulation on cryptocurrencies that took effect” on March 25th, which demands that activities from local crypto exchanges and service providers need to be reported to Korea’s Financial Intelligence Unit. This ruling came about as a result of the local tax authority discovering 2,400 evaders who relied on Bitcoin to hide assets worth more than $32 million from the government.
Before this new ruling, the country didn’t have a specific law for confiscated cryptocurrencies, which meant that the confiscated sum was simply kept in cold storage.