Finland to Donate Millions of Dollars From Sale of Seized Bitcoin to Ukraine – Helsinki authorities have selected two brokers to organize the sale of around €71 million ($75 million) in bitcoin (BTC) in the coming weeks. The country owns the coins that were sized by Finnish Customs during drug trafficking and other criminal investigations.
Bloomberg reported, citing an emailed statement, that the agency has established two-year contracts with Coinmotion Oy and Tesseract Group Oy and aims to sell the cryptocurrency in the spring and early summer. The customs agency will release 1,890 bitcoins out of a total of 1,981.
The majority of them were seized in operations that took place prior to 2018. The State Treasury issued guidelines for their safekeeping that year, prohibiting the customs authority from storing the digital currency on a crypto market and requiring it to be kept offline.
Also Read: The Central African Republic Adopts Bitcoin As Legal Tender
A tender was launched in July for brokers who can assist the Finnish government in converting digital assets into fiat currency. Pekka Pylkkanen, Director of Financial Management at Finnish Customs, said at the time that the agency is looking for a long-term solution for selling cryptocurrencies that have been forfeited to the government.
Finland plans to spend a major percentage of the fiat proceeds from the sale to increase financial aid to Ukraine, which was occupied by Russia in late February. The decision has been made, according to the Helsingin Sanomat newspaper, which cited informed sources.
The government has yet to decide how much of the total would be given to Kyiv, but the donation will constitute a significant boost in Helsinki’s support to Ukrainians in any case. Since 2014, the Nordic country has provided €85 million to the Eastern European republic. Finland’s government approved €14 million in humanitarian and development aid for Ukraine in February.
In early March, the Finnish government expressed interest in utilizing bitcoins to aid Ukraine. Although sending the cryptocurrency straight to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was considered, it was ultimately decided to convert the coins.
Also Read: National Assembly of Panama Advances Discussion of Cryptocurrency Law Project
Finland to Donate Millions of Dollars From Sale of Seized Bitcoin to Ukraine – Finland’s Finance Minister Annika Saarikko said on Wednesday that the country will supply Ukraine with more than half of the proceeds from the crypto sale, which is projected to raise €70–80 million.
“I’m open to the possibility that these tens of millions of euros will be promptly distributed as humanitarian relief in the midst of the conflict, or that they will be used in part for reconstruction work later on.” “That day will come as well,” Saarikko said, adding that she couldn’t think of a greater application for bitcoin.