French Government To Auction Stolen GateHub Bitcoin

Regulators worldwide have been doing remarkable jobs in the financial sector, especially the crypto sector, which has shielded malicious actors. Most of these bad actors have always used the cover of anonymity to carry out their evil deeds. While some have been successful in their quest, others have been not so lucky as they have been arrested and their entire cache of Bitcoin seized. In a new update by the French government, they will auction stolen Bitcoin worth close to $34.5 million, allegedly confiscated from the malicious actor that illegally gained entry into an XRP ledger-based UK platform, GateHub.

The story of the GateHub hack

In the report compiled by Cyberguerre, the auction is billed to take place on behalf of the recovery and confiscated assets division(AGRASC) of the country. Also, it is noted that an auction house based in Paris, Kapandji Morhange, will take place on March 17. The report also pointed out all the 611 Bitcoin that was seized during the GateHub attack. The government wants to auction only 610 Bitcoin.

The GateHub hack happened in 2019, and it saw the malicious actors cart away nothing less than 23 million XRP, which was worth a little shy of $10 million at the time of the theft. As if that was not enough, another breach of the wallet provider saw the personal details and information of close to 1.4 million customers on the platform exposed to the public.

Not long after the hack took place, the police were able to capture two key suspects in the case, Nassim B and Gabriel KAB, who goes by their pseudonym, Prosox, and Kurois’h, respectively. The pair were also said to have masterminded the hack of music Platform Vevo’s channel on YouTube.

The American government has sold $10 billion worth of Bitcoin since 2015

With the legal case involving the stolen Bitcoins still in court, analysts have argued that the suspects still owned the Bitcoin until they are found guilty of theft. It means that should both parties be cleared by the Judge, the proceeds from the Bitcoin sales would be transferred to their accounts. If they are guilty of the offense, the proceeds from the sale will go directly into the government’s purse. The auctioning of seized Bitcoins by the government in countries across the world is not new.

The United States has auctioned seized Bitcoin since 2014, including one that was gotten from a particular case, the famous silk road. Tom Draper benefited immensely from the sales of Bitcoin, with the venture capitalist getting his hands on nothing less than 30,000 Bitcoin gotten from the silk road.

Another sale was also made by the UMS in February, with the regulators selling 4,000 Bitcoins worth $37 million the but now goes for about $227 million due to the rise in the price of the asset. The United States is set to auction another 0.9 BTC in the later parts of this month. Analysts have said that it would do them good if they held the asset instead of selling them off, as they have now sold off a cumulative total of $10 billion Bitcoin in the process.

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