Foresight News reports that the UK Home Office is working with police to sell a batch of seized cryptocurrency to fill a budget gap. The total amount of cryptocurrency seized by the police is not yet clear, but a raid in 2018 seized approximately 61,000 bitcoins from a Ponzi scheme case, which now has a total value of over £5.4 billion (approximately $7 billion), having increased by 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 currency and sell it. According to a tender announcement published by BlueLight Commercial, a procurement company under the police representing the Home Office, the UK government will also provide a contract to operate a centralized service responsible for holding and selling seized cryptocurrency. The contract is worth up to $53.7 million and will be valid for at least four years, but the proposal has not yet received acceptable bids. The time between the police seizing digital assets and liquidating those assets is typically long. The tender announcement states: 'The average time between asset seizure and the conclusion of legal proceedings (monetization) is within 1 year, but for more complex cases, it may take 3 to 4 years.'
