Germany Secures €2.64 Billion From Selling Seized Bitcoin Hoard

German authorities secured €2.64 billion ($2.89 billion) from the sale of almost 50,000 Bitcoin confiscated in January, money it intends to hold in safe custody until criminal proceedings surrounding the seizure are concluded.

The state of Saxony completed the emergency sale, the first of its kind, through Frankfurt securities trading house Bankhaus Scheich Wertpapierspezialist AG between June 19 and July 12, according to a July 16 statement from the Dresden Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The bank was commissioned to sell the currency “in a way that was fair and gentle on the market,” the prosecutors’ office said. The Bitcoin hoard had ...