Irish crime gangs are storing crypto seed phrases in rented vaults: report

Organized crime groups in Ireland have been storing cryptocurrency private keys and seed phrases in rented vaults alongside cash and luxury goods as criminals spread their assets across different forms, according to the head of the country’s Criminal Assets Bureau.

The Sunday Independent reported that Detective Chief Superintendent Michael Gubbins, who heads the Criminal Assets Bureau, said investigators had encountered the practice during their own cases and had raised the issue with Ireland’s Anti-Money Laundering Steering Committee.

Gubbins said rented vaults can contain access credentials for cryptocurrency wallets alongside assets traditionally associated with criminal proceeds.

“Could be cryptocurrency keys or cash or watches or could even be passports,” he said. “Again, it’s from our experience, what we would have seen around those matters.”

Private keys allow users to authorize transactions from crypto wallets, while a seed phrase can be used to restore access to a wallet. Losing either can permanently prevent an owner from accessing funds, while someone who obtains them may be able to take control of the associated cryptocurrency.

Irish crime gangs are spreading assets across crypto and cash

Gubbins said criminal groups have turned to cryptocurrency partly to spread the risk of having their assets seized and because they believe digital assets provide anonymity.

“They believe there’s an anonymity attached to it,” he said.

The CAB chief pointed to drawbacks for criminals using crypto, including price volatility and the possibility of losing passwords or other credentials needed to access their wallets.

Despite its increased presence in investigations, Gubbins described crypto use among Irish criminal groups as “still quite basic.” Cash continues to dominate the proceeds generated by organized crime, particularly drug trafficking.

“It’s still a cash business for those engaged in drug trafficking,” he said.

Ireland has already identified digital assets as a significant financial crime risk. As crypto.news previously reported, the Department of Finance classified crypto assets as a “very significant” money laundering and terrorist financing risk in its 2026 National Risk Assessment.

The assessment cited risks including crypto-related fraud, sanctions evasion and difficulties surrounding tax enforcement, while the government set out plans for further standards covering crypto-related sources of funds.

Ireland followed the assessment in August with its first national AML strategy, which runs through 2030 and places additional attention on digital asset transactions involving self-hosted wallets and overseas crypto firms.

Under the framework, regulated crypto service providers must conduct enhanced checks on certain transfers involving private wallets. For transfers above €1,000, firms must take steps to assess whether a customer owns or controls the self-hosted address involved.

EU anti-money laundering rules tighten cash and crypto checks

The findings reported by CAB come as Ireland prepares for another stage of the European Union’s anti-money laundering framework.

EU rules taking effect in July 2027 will impose a €10,000 maximum on cash payments for goods and services, although member states can adopt lower limits. Obliged businesses handling occasional cash transactions of at least €3,000 will have to identify and verify the customer.

Crypto-asset service providers face separate customer due diligence requirements under the regulation. They will need to conduct customer checks on occasional crypto transactions worth at least €1,000, while applying identification measures to transactions below that level.

The framework brings crypto-asset service providers, crowdfunding operators and several other sectors within the EU’s updated anti-money laundering regime. It contains measures covering self-hosted crypto addresses, requiring service providers to identify and assess money laundering and terrorist financing risks linked to transfers involving them.

Ireland’s Anti-Money Laundering Steering Committee is part of the preparation for the changes. Chaired by the Department of Finance, the committee brings together agencies including the Criminal Assets Bureau, Central Bank of Ireland, An Garda Síochána and Financial Intelligence Unit Ireland.

Ireland’s MiCA transition period ended in December 2025, meaning firms previously operating under domestic registrations needed authorization under the Markets in Crypto-Assets framework or another lawful route to continue providing covered services. The country’s latest crypto compliance rules have since placed more attention on transactions involving self-hosted wallets.

Professional money launderers remain part of Irish crime networks

CAB investigations have encountered professional money launderers who move funds on behalf of criminal groups, according to Gubbins.

Some operators use hawala, an informal value transfer system where money deposited with one operator in one country can be paid through another operator elsewhere without the original cash physically crossing the border.

Gubbins said professional laundering services can charge commissions of roughly 6%.

During one investigation involving the system, CAB seized €230,000 from a safe deposit box held at a private vault company.

The use of vaults for cash, luxury goods and crypto credentials gives investigators another physical component to cases involving digital assets. Although cryptocurrency itself exists on a blockchain, control ultimately depends on the credentials required to authorize access to the associated wallet.

Irish authorities have confronted that problem directly while trying to recover one of the largest cryptocurrency holdings seized in the country.

CAB works through 6,000 BTC seized from cannabis grower

CAB has been trying to access 12 Bitcoin wallets containing a combined 6,000 BTC seized from convicted cannabis grower Clifton Collins in 2019.

Collins had acquired the Bitcoin in late 2011 and early 2012 using proceeds from his cannabis operation. He divided the holdings across 12 wallets containing roughly 500 BTC each and wrote the private keys on paper before hiding them inside the aluminum cap of a fishing rod case at a rented property.

The fishing equipment disappeared after the property was cleared following his arrest, leaving authorities unable to access the Bitcoin despite having seized the assets.

Progress came in March when CAB, working with Europol’s European Cybercrime Centre, accessed the first wallet containing 500 BTC. Europol provided technical expertise and decryption resources for the operation, though authorities did not disclose how they recovered access.

A second 500 BTC wallet was secured in May, taking the recovered amount to 1,000 BTC. By July, authorities had gained control of another 500 BTC, raising the total accessible amount to 1,500 BTC.

Activity connected to the holdings continued in late August, when another Collins-linked wallet moved 500 BTC worth nearly $40 million at the time. No statement from CAB, An Garda Síochána or Europol accompanied that transaction, leaving its purpose unconfirmed.

Gubbins told the Sunday Independent that more than €130 million of the roughly €360 million holding has now been realized as CAB continues working through the seized wallets.

The agency returned almost €15 million in recovered assets to the Irish exchequer last year.