UK Police to auction off $620,000 of seized bitcoin

British authorities are set to auction off half a million pounds worth of cryptocurrencies that were seized from Elliot Gunton, a 19-year old hacker from Norwich, UK.

The seized cryptocurrencies confiscated from Gunton—who was found guilty of illegally supplying online personal data and hacking services last month—included Bitcoin, Ethereum and XRP. He was sentenced to 20 months in prison and ordered to repay more than £400,000. 

The loot contained a multitude of different crypto assets that have now been collected by the Eastern Region Special Operations Unit and sent to the UK-based auction house Wilsons Auctions. 

Wilsons Auctions are selling the currency with no-minimum reserve. The first sale begins at noon GMT on September 25, running for 24 hours, and the second will take place at 6pm GMT the following day. In total 15 lots of bitcoins are going on sale to bidders in person and online.

The digital asset listing is also a first from the UK police. However, it wasn’t a first for the auction house that managed the first public auction of bitcoins on behalf of the Belgian Government in March 2019. The sizeable loot of 315 bitcoins (worth $1.1 million back then) was sold in an auction that had bidders participating from more than 90 countries.

Speaking ahead of the auction, asset recovery director at Wilsons Auctions, Aidan Larkin said, “Following the success of our world-first public auction of bitcoin, which achieved global attention, we are excited to continue to roll out this secure service to both our public and private sector clients.”

In July this year, it was reported that UK police were receiving training on how to handle cryptocurrencies. It looks that training came in handy.