In Ireland, criminal organisations are renting private safes to store crypto private keys and seed phrases alongside cash, luxury watches and passports. The Criminal Assets Bureau, led by Michael Gubbins, reported this practice to the committee preparing for the EU anti-money laundering regulation due in July 2027. Despite the growing use of cryptocurrencies by organised crime, drug trafficking remains dominated by cash, and on-chain transfers, while inexpensive, remain poorly adopted due to their public nature. The CAB has recovered over 130 million euros of the 360 million euros represented by the 6,000 BTC seized from Clifton Collins, a cannabis producer who spread his bitcoins across twelve wallets with private keys printed on paper and hidden in a fishing rod case that was lost in a landfill.
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