BlockBeats news, on July 20, according to the UK (The Daily Telegraph), the Home Office is working with the police to sell a batch of seized cryptocurrencies to fill a budget gap. The total amount of cryptocurrencies seized by the police is not clear, but a raid in 2018 seized about 61,000 bitcoins from a Ponzi scheme case, which is currently worth over £5.4 billion (approximately $7 billion), having increased about 20 times since it was seized.
The Home Office plans to establish a 'cryptocurrency storage and monetization framework' that allows law enforcement to securely store frozen digital currencies and sell them. According to a tender notice issued by BlueLight Commercial, a procurement company under the police on behalf of the Home Office, the UK government will also provide a contract to operate a centralized service responsible for holding and selling seized cryptocurrencies. The contract is worth up to $53.7 million and is valid for at least four years, but the proposal has not yet received acceptable bids. The time between the police seizing digital assets and clearing the sale of those assets is usually long. The tender notice stated: 'The average time between asset seizure and the conclusion of legal proceedings (monetization) is less than 1 year, and for more complex cases, it may take 3 to 4 years.'
