German Prosecutors Hire Local Bank to ‘Clean’ Seized Crypto Worth $113 Million

German prosecutors have hired a bank to “clean” cryptocurrency seized in criminal cases. “As the cryptocurrencies are related to crime, they are considered ‘contaminated coins’ and cannot be traded on mainstream exchanges,” the bank said.

The anti-cybercrime unit of the Frankfurt General Prosecutor in the German state of Hesse has reportedly hired Bankhaus Scheich Wertpapierspezialist AG to “clean” cryptocurrencies worth about 100 million euros ($113 million), Bloomberg reported Wednesday. The coins were seized in a criminal case involving three drug dealers.

Noting that seized crypto will return to regular circulation after cleaning, the bank explained:

As the cryptocurrencies are related to crime, they are considered ‘contaminated coins’ and cannot be traded on mainstream exchanges.
Bankhaus Scheich noted that the seized cryptocurrency was sold in one week earlier this month. The proceeds will now be transferred to the state government budget.

The prosecutors and the bank said they will cooperate in future criminal cases to put confiscated cryptocurrencies back into the markets.

Several people on social media found the move by the German government interesting. For example, podcaster Joe Weisenthal tweeted:

It’s interesting that governments are in the service of, essentially, reverse laundering crypto. They take tainted crypto (that was seized in criminal cases, and as such isn’t traded on exchanges) and then wash it so that it can trade freely again on the market.