2021-8-22 11:17 |
For as long as it has been around, the crypto industry has been seeing unusual and strange developments that are difficult to explain. One of the most recent examples of this is the Swedish government paying around $1.5 million in Bitcoin to a convicted and imprisoned drug dealer.
How did it happen?Basically, two years ago, a man was convicted in a Swedish court for earning 36 BTC illegally. The man was caught selling drugs online and accepting Bitcoin payments in exchange. However, the prosecutor, Tove Kullberg, made a decision to use Bitcoin’s equivalent value in fiat currency to make her case against the drug dealer. This was a mistake that ended up leading to the court having to pay $1.5 million to the drug dealer upon his release.
Due to the fact that Bitcoin’s price was much, much lower 2 years ago than it is today, the man’s earnings from drug dealing were around $100,000, or 1.3 million Swedish kronor. The court judged that this is the amount that should be taken from the drug dealer as compensation for his criminal activities.
But, over time, Bitcoin’s price skyrocketed, and his crypto stash grew to an enormous size. So, when the Swedish Enforcement Authority was tasked to auction the drug dealer’s Bitcoins, they only had to sell 3 BTC in order to get the $100,000 that the man was supposed to pay.
That now leaves him with 33 out of the original 36 BTC, which is currently worth $1.5 million, and this amount needs to be lawfully returned to its owner.
Cryptocurrencies continue to challenge legal authoritiesKullberg commented on her decision to calculate the man’s wealth in fiat, rather than BTC/USD, calling it an unfortunate choice in many ways, which has now led to rather unforeseen consequences. She pointed out that the lesson to be learned is that the authorities, when faced with the crime involving crypto, should keep the value in crypto, rather than convert it to the current value of that coin in fiat.
Furthermore, since cryptocurrencies are likely to become even more widely adopted, prosecution authorities should invest in educating their workforce of the industry in greater detail, thus providing them with the knowledge and tools to tackle these types of cases in the future.
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