Finland funds itself with seized Bitcoin

Finnish customs sold 1,889 BTC that had been seized as the proceeds of drug trafficking and succeeded in getting $46.5 million.

Finland: sold seized Bitcoin to finance its own activities

Finland’s history with Bitcoin goes back a long way, and this year it came back into the limelight following the outbreak of war in Eastern Europe involving Ukraine and Russia. 

In addition to providing arms and logistical support, on 28 April 2022 the Scandinavian country had distinguished itself by a generous opening to Ukraine. 

Through a press conference, the country north of Ukraine announced its intention to support Zelensky’s government precisely in BTC, providing not military aid anymore, but resources for the population and reconstruction of the country. 

At the time of the events, the funding was large, amounting to $75 million, which the Finnish government donated to the tormented country. 

It was announced on the government website with these words:

“The Finnish government has decided on significant additional aid to # Ukraine. Finland will donate tens of millions of euros from the sale of #bitcoins seized by Finnish customs to Ukraine. This historic decision was made by the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs”.

Since time immemorial, the government of Sanna Mirella Marin, former President of the Council of the European Union, and Head of State Sauli Niinisto has moved decisively to fight crime with truly effective results. 

Recently the Finnish Customs seized 1,889 BTC from drug crimes and made $46.5 million from their sale. 

The operation was made possible through a team of hackers whose research took time and painstaking analysis regarding the applications received. 

How the sale of the seized BTC was finalized

Two brokers were chosen to arrange the sale, Jyvaskyla-based Coinmotion, which provides custody and trading services, and Helsinki-based Tesseract (digital asset lender). 

The $46.5 million deal constitutes a new blow that brings valuable revenue to the state’s coffers and deals a major blow to modern-day crime trafficking on the deep web. 

This sale highlights how Bitcoin can also be exploited for less-than-noble purposes such as buying drugs, but also that these are less and less frequent episodes that are effectively combated by law enforcement, which always manages to stay one step ahead of the underworld. 

Finland, acting as a modern-day Robin Hood, stands out in this crime-fighting path and sells underground assets to clean them up and donate them to the people, depositing them into state coffers.