How Irish gangs are stashing crypto keys in private vaults

Organized criminal syndicates in Ireland are now using rented security boxes to keep the phrases and private keys needed to access their cryptocurrency wallets safe. They are storing them along with money, luxury watches, and passports where the police cannot easily locate them, the head of the state’s asset seizure unit said.

Michael Gubbins, a Detective Chief Superintendent of the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) of Ireland, revealed this technique. However, the agency has already flagged it to the government’s Anti-Money Laundering Steering Committee.

Why does a rented box beat a mixer?

The advantage is its low-tech nature. Rather than sending funds through a mixer or exchange for conversion into anonymous cryptocurrency, the criminals seal the hardware wallet or piece of paper bearing the 24-word phrase inside a sealed box at a place that the gang has leased.

The funds remain on-chain and open to observation by anyone who cares to monitor the blockchain. The only thing that disappears is the key. Without it, confiscated wallets are useless, and searching one site does not mean that the keys are found; they might be stored elsewhere.

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