“Lost” Irish Dealer's 6,000 BTC Cache Shows Signs of Life as 500 BTC Moves After Nearly a Decade

Roughly 500 BTC linked to Irish drug dealer Clifton Collins has moved on-chain after nearly 10 years of being widely assumed lost. Collins bought about 6,000 BTC in 2011–2012 using proceeds from growing and selling cannabis, then spread the holdings across 12 wallets. He reportedly kept the private keys written on paper and concealed them inside a fishing rod case at a rental property in Galway, Ireland. Following his arrest in 2017, the property was emptied and his belongings were sent to a landfill. Investigators and Collins believed the keys had been permanently destroyed, and courts later ruled the bitcoin forfeited as criminal proceeds. The latest transfer of 500 BTC indicates at least part of the stash may have survived.