In January 2024, a suspect connected to Movie2k.to voluntarily transferred approximately 49,858 Bitcoin to wallets provided by Germany’s Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA). Authorities provisionally secured the coins, then sold that tranche between June 19 and July 12, 2024, for €2,639,683,413.92. The sale converted Bitcoin into cash; it did not decide who ultimately gets the proceeds. As of the latest official update located in 2026, parts of the related criminal and confiscation proceedings remained unresolved.
What happened to the Bitcoin linked to Movie2k?
German authorities provisionally secured nearly 50,000 Bitcoin connected by investigators to Movie2k, a defunct German piracy portal. The precise amount reported for the later sale was approximately 49,858 BTC. The suspect transferred the coins to government-provided wallets; authorities did not describe the event as police physically taking Bitcoin from a server or exchange.
Saxony’s General Prosecutor’s Office said the transfer took place on January 16, 2024. At the Bitcoin price cited by the authority at that time—roughly €39,400 per coin—the transferred amount was worth about €1.96 billion. The later sale generated approximately €2.64 billion, reflecting a different date and market value, not the amount of Movie2k’s original alleged income. Saxony General Prosecutor’s Office: Movie2k proceedings and Bitcoin recovery
What was Movie2k?
Movie2k.to operated until approximately the end of May 2013. Prosecutors described it as a portal that linked users to unauthorized films and offered illegal streaming; that does not mean the site itself hosted every film file. A 2020 account by Saxony’s General Prosecutor’s Office alleged that more than 880,000 film copies were distributed through the portal between autumn 2008 and May 2013.
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Prosecutors alleged that the operators earned money through advertising and subscription-related activity, then used some of that income to buy Bitcoin on a large scale from around mid-2012. The Bitcoin’s later multibillion-euro value is therefore distinct from the alleged revenue that originally funded its purchase. Saxony General Prosecutor’s Office: 2020 Movie2k account
How did authorities secure the coins?
Authorities called the action a provisional securing of assets. According to Saxony, a suspect voluntarily transferred the Bitcoin to wallets supplied by the BKA. “Voluntary” describes how the transfer was made; it does not mean the suspect continued to control the coins afterward. The authorities treated them as suspected criminal proceeds while the case proceeded.
The investigation involved the Dresden General Prosecutor’s Office, Saxony’s State Criminal Police Office and tax investigators from the Leipzig II Tax Office. The BKA, the FBI and a Munich forensic IT company assisted. Saxony said forensic investigative work established an evidentiary connection between the Bitcoin and the suspects. The public releases do not specify the particular wallet addresses, devices, keys or tracing steps involved, so a more detailed account of how investigators accessed or attributed each coin is not established in those materials.
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Bitcoin transactions are publicly recorded, but linking activity on that ledger to people and suspected crimes can require evidence beyond transaction records. The official account describes a combination of forensic investigation and international cooperation; it does not say that Bitcoin’s anonymity was simply “broken.” Saxony General Prosecutor’s Office: investigation and recovery
How much Bitcoin was recovered—and what does “50,000” mean?
“50,000 Bitcoin” is a headline approximation, not the exact sale quantity. Saxony initially described the January 2024 recovery as nearly 50,000 BTC; its later sale announcement put the tranche at approximately 49,858 BTC. The authority reported that this amount was transferred on January 16 and valued at about €1.96 billion at the time.
There was also an earlier recovery announced in 2020: Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash worth more than €25 million at that time. The public announcements do not provide a complete accounting that reconciles all Movie2k-related cryptocurrency holdings. The earlier recovery, the 2024 sale tranche and a separate pool discussed below should not be added together as if they were a confirmed, non-overlapping total. Saxony General Prosecutor’s Office: 2020 recovery
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Why did Germany sell the Bitcoin?
Saxony ordered an emergency sale under Section 111p of Germany’s Code of Criminal Procedure. The authority said the risk of a substantial loss in value from Bitcoin’s rapid price swings justified selling rather than holding the coins through the criminal proceedings. Its notice cited a potential loss of approximately 10% or more as the relevant legal risk and said prosecutors were not permitted to speculate on future price increases.
This was presented as a measure to preserve asset value, not as an investment call about Bitcoin’s future price. Saxony said it used Bankhaus Scheich Wertpapierspezialist AG, which it described as a regulated German securities-trading bank, to conduct the sale.
| Sale detail | Reported figure or date |
|---|---|
| Bitcoin sold | Approximately 49,858 BTC |
| Sale period | June 19–July 12, 2024 |
| Gross proceeds reported by Saxony | €2,639,683,413.92 |
| Legal basis | Emergency sale under Section 111p StPO |
The amount is the gross proceeds reported by Saxony, not a final net recovery after every expense or legal allocation. The state said the proceeds remained provisionally secured for the criminal case. An emergency sale converts an asset into cash; it does not itself establish final confiscation, restitution or a right for the state to spend the money. Saxony General Prosecutor’s Office: July 16, 2024 sale notice
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What charges and convictions are part of the case?
The 2024 indictment
In April 2024, prosecutors announced charges against a 40-year-old German alleged principal operator and a 37-year-old Polish alleged participant. The alleged principal operator was charged with commercial-scale copyright violations in 219,928 cases, commercial money laundering in 146 cases and incitement to false accusation. Prosecutors alleged that Bitcoin was purchased using advertising proceeds. The second defendant was accused of commercial money laundering in 46 cases and aggravated tax evasion. These are allegations in an indictment, not findings of guilt.
The earlier programmer conviction
A separate programmer associated with Movie2k was convicted by Leipzig Local Court in March 2023 of commercial-scale copyright violations, money laundering, fraud and tax evasion. The court imposed a suspended sentence of one year and eight months. A financial intermediary received a separate suspended sentence of 10 months for copyright infringement and false accusation. These convictions concern the people and proceedings identified in the official account; they should not be conflated with the charges against the alleged principal operator.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.Where do the sale proceeds and other cryptocurrency stand?
The €2.639 billion from the 2024 sale remained provisionally secured for the Movie2k criminal proceedings in Saxony’s official account. Possession of that cash by the authorities does not by itself settle whether it will be confiscated, returned, used for restitution or otherwise allocated.
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A separate pool of approximately 2,700 Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash was subject to a distinct confiscation decision. Saxony’s 2026 update said the eventual use of approximately €38.6 million derived from that pool could not yet be decided. The same update said proceedings against another alleged principal operator remained pending before Leipzig Regional Court. These are separate legal questions from the sale of the 49,858-BTC tranche. Saxony General Prosecutor’s Office: 2026 status update
Movie2k and the Bitcoin case: timeline
- Autumn 2008: Prosecutors’ account places the start of Movie2k’s operation around this period.
- Mid-2012: Operators allegedly began acquiring Bitcoin on a large scale.
- End of May 2013: Movie2k ceased operating, according to Saxony’s account.
- November 2019: A programmer and an alleged money-laundering intermediary were placed in pretrial detention, according to the 2020 prosecutorial account.
- August 2020: Authorities announced an earlier recovery of Bitcoin and Bitcoin Cash worth more than €25 million at the time.
- March 2023: Leipzig Local Court convicted a programmer in a separate proceeding.
- May 2023: The alleged principal operator was arrested abroad and later extradited to Germany, according to Saxony’s account.
- January 16, 2024: Approximately 49,858 BTC were transferred to government-provided wallets.
- April 2024: Prosecutors announced the indictment of two defendants.
- June 19–July 12, 2024: Authorities sold approximately 49,858 BTC under the emergency-sale provision.
- July 16, 2024: Saxony announced the sale proceeds of €2,639,683,413.92.
- 2026: Official material continued to describe parts of the proceedings and confiscation process as unresolved.
Why the case matters beyond its headline value
The case illustrates three different legal and financial stages that are easy to blur: investigators linking assets to suspected crime, authorities provisionally securing those assets, and a court ultimately deciding their disposition. The January transfer and July sale addressed control and preservation of the Bitcoin; they did not, on their own, resolve the final ownership of the proceeds.
It also shows why a cryptocurrency’s value at seizure is not the same as the value of the activity alleged to have funded it. Prosecutors said Movie2k income was used to buy Bitcoin years before the 2024 sale. The roughly €2.64 billion figure is the reported result of liquidating the later-valued assets, not evidence that the site originally earned that amount.
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