Romania will sell at auction Bitcoin and Ether confiscated in a fraud case
The successful bidder must provide the Agency responsible for the auction with an address registered with a crypto trading platform authorized to operate in the country.
The Romanian authorities will sell at auction some cryptocurrency seized in a case of fraud: it is the first time in the history of the country.
On October 2, the National Agency for the Management of Seized Assets (ANABI) announced that an auction would soon be held on Bitcoin Rush confiscated in accordance with a decision of the Prosecutor’s Office of the Court of Ploiesti. The amount of the crypto put up for sale has not been specified, however.
In a press release, ANABI stated:
Taking into account the nature of the auctioned crypto, in order to proceed with the transfer, the successful bidder will be required to communicate to the Agency its public BTC and ETH addresses associated with a virtual trading platform for these currencies.
ANABI has clarified that the platform chosen by the successful bidder will have to be a company registered in the country, operating in accordance with the rules and guidelines of Romania for financial instruments: moreover, full compliance with Know Your Customer requirements and anti-money laundering provisions both domestic and foreign is required.
Previously, Romania had been recalled by the European Court of Justice for the delay in transposing into national law the full range of provisions outlined in the Fifth Directive on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering or terrorist financing, including those related to cryptocurrency. Last July, due to the delay, Romania was fined (together with Ireland), although in the meantime the Eastern European country had transposed all the provisions of the directive.
The auction organized by ANABI is the first at a national level, but authorities around the world have already organized several similar initiatives involving seized cryptocurrencies.