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NRW Minister of Justice Peter Biesenbach (CDU), Markus Hartmann, Head of the Cybercrime Central and Contact Point (ZAC NRW)
Photo: Marius Becker / dpa
In its first nationwide auction of the digital currency Bitcoin, the German judiciary achieved a price well above the current market value.
The first Bitcoin was auctioned on Wednesday after two days of auction for 57,010 euros.
The NRW Ministry of Justice announced this on request on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the Bitcoin rate had fallen from just under 54,000 euros on Monday to 50,900 euros on Wednesday noon.
The auctioned cryptocurrency comes mainly from drug trafficking on the Darknet.
It had been discovered and secured from criminals.
North Rhine-Westphalia operates the nationwide only online auction portal of the German judiciary.
"We are extremely satisfied with the way the auctions have gone so far," said a spokesman for the Cybercrime Central Office at the Cologne public prosecutor's office.
"The interest was huge and we have a lot of new registrations on our auction platform." On Wednesday auctions of a total of 16.5 Bitcoin ended.
The proceeds go to the state treasury
The prosecutors could only speculate about why bids were made above the market value: "Perhaps because they know that they will get the goods from us," a judge spokeswoman said.
Whoever the highest bidder is can hope for a further price increase.
Although the digital currency is subject to strong fluctuations, overall it has so far recorded an enormous increase in value.
While a Bitcoin was equivalent to one dollar in 2010, it is now around 60,000 dollars.
The NRW Justice wants to offer a total of 215 Bitcoin on its own auction portal.
They are now gradually being auctioned off.
The proceeds go to the state treasury.
The auction, which started on Monday, had been in preparation for months.
The North Rhine-Westphalian judiciary is hoarding a small fortune in the form of crypto currencies.
She not only owns Bitcoin, but also Litecoin, Ethereum, Ripple and Monero.
pbe / dpa