Organized crime groups in Ireland are storing cryptocurrency private keys and seed phrases in rented vaults alongside cash, luxury watches and passports, according to Detective Chief Superintendent Michael Gubbins, head of the country’s Criminal Assets Bureau. The practice emerged from CAB’s own investigations and has been reported to Ireland’s Anti-Money Laundering Steering Committee.
Gubbins told the Sunday Independent that vault contents could include “cryptocurrency keys or cash or watches or could even be passports.” He said criminal groups have turned to crypto partly to spread the risk of asset seizure and because they believe digital assets provide anonymity. However, he described crypto use among Irish criminal groups as “still quite basic,” with cash continuing to dominate proceeds from drug trafficking.
The disclosure comes as Ireland prepares for new European Union anti-money laundering rules. EU measures taking effect in July 2027 will impose a €10,000 maximum on cash payments for goods and services, while obliged businesses handling occasional cash transactions of at least €3,000 will need to identify and verify customers. Crypto-asset service providers will face customer due diligence requirements on occasional crypto transactions worth at least €1,000, as well as enhanced scrutiny of transfers involving self-hosted wallets.
CAB is also working through one of Ireland’s largest cryptocurrency seizures: 12 Bitcoin wallets containing a combined 6,000 BTC taken from convicted cannabis grower Clifton Collins in 2019. The private keys had been hidden inside a fishing rod case that later disappeared. With help from Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, authorities accessed the first 500 BTC wallet in March, a second in May, and another 500 BTC by July. Gubbins said more than €130 million of the roughly €360 million holding has now been realized.
The bureau has also encountered professional money launderers, including operators of hawala, who charge commissions of roughly 6%. In one investigation, CAB seized €230,000 from a safe deposit box held at a private vault company.
