Irish Drug Dealer’s Lost BTC Stack Worth $400m Has Woken Up

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A wallet linked to Clifton Collins – the seventh richest on-chain individual in the world according to data from Arkham Intel – has just moved $35M worth of BTC to Coinbase Custody.

Clifton Collins was an Irish drug dealer who bought 6,000 BTC in 2011-2012. In 2017, he was jailed and his belongings were sent to a dump by his landlord. 

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According to some sources, Collins stored his private keys on a piece of paper hidden inside a fishing rod. When Collins was arrested, his possessions were taken to the dump by his landlord. Waste from this dump – located in County Galway, Ireland – goes to Germany or China to be incinerated. It was assumed that Clifton Collins’ BTC was lost forever. 

The recent transfer to Coinbase Custody makes that theory unlikely, and adds intrigue to the identity of whoever controls the remainder of the BTC stack. 

There are various potential theories being discussed. The Irish Times are reporting that the address was seized as part of an operation by the Irish police, along with the Criminal Assets Bureau and Europol. The Irish police have confirmed a seizure of "approximately €30 million in cryptocurrency" which is highly likely to be part of Collins' stash.

The statement references "500 bitcoins" which aligns with transaction data from Arkham Intel.

It is also possible that Collins, who is now out of prison, could have lied to Irish police in 2017 and retained a copy of the private keys. Alternatively, it was reported by the Irish Times in 2020 that there was a break-in at Collins’ house before his landlord moved his goods to the dump. The burglars may have been after his private keys. 

Using the Arkham Tracer, you can track the flow of funds from one of Clifton Collins’ lost addresses all the way to a Coinbase Custody address. 

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It is likely that this transfer was done with the intention of selling, although we cannot know for sure the reason behind the transaction. 

You can interact with the TXID page for the initial transaction on  Arkham Intel's Transaction Explorer tool here.