Organized crime groups in Ireland are renting security deposit boxes to safeguard the seed phrases and private keys needed to access their cryptocurrency wallets, according to the head of the state's asset seizure unit. The keys are stored alongside cash, luxury watches, and passports in locations that are difficult for police to find.

Michael Gubbins, a Detective Chief Superintendent with Ireland's Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), disclosed the technique, which the agency has already flagged to the government's Anti-Money Laundering Steering Committee. CAB, established in 1996 following the murder of journalist Veronica Guerin, has long specialized in tracing and seizing criminal assets, and the deposit-box tactic shows how that mandate now extends to digital property whose access credentials exist offline.

Why a rented box beats a mixer

The method's advantage lies in its low-tech simplicity. Instead of routing funds through a mixer or an exchange to convert them into anonymous cryptocurrency, criminals seal a hardware wallet — or a piece of paper bearing the 24-word recovery phrase — inside a box at premises leased by the gang.

The funds themselves remain on-chain and visible to anyone monitoring the blockchain. Only the key disappears. Without it, confiscated wallets are useless, and raiding one location offers no guarantee of recovering the keys, which may be stored elsewhere.

Gubbins said the criminals rely on a perceived layer of security. "There's a sense that there's anonymity associated with it," he was quoted as saying. He also noted that cryptocurrency's volatility makes it difficult for anyone attempting to store ill-gotten funds in it.

A legal loophole aids Irish gangs

Renting a safe deposit box is legal — and that is precisely the problem. Reports indicate that for CAB to obtain a forfeiture order, it must link the contents of a box to the proceeds of crime. That imposes a heavier evidentiary burden than freezing a suspect's assets in a bank account.

Gubbins did not frame crypto as a singular solution but as one channel among many. "Even though we do see them using it, it's not the only way of laundering their money," he said. The bureau continues to confront professional money launderers running hawala operations — a system of transferring value without physically moving cash.

According to Gubbins, criminals' use of cryptocurrency in Ireland remains "still quite rudimentary," with most dirty money in the drug trade still handled in cash.

A locked wallet worth €30 million

CAB has nevertheless demonstrated it can occasionally crack such holdings. In March 2026, the bureau opened a wallet worth roughly €30 million containing 500 BTC. That wallet was part of a 6,000 BTC wallet seized by the bureau in 2019, in an operation supported by Europol.

The scale of a single wallet stands out against the bureau's recent record: over the past decade, CAB has sold only €6.5 million worth of seized cryptocurrency. The gap between the value locked in a single wallet and the bureau's cumulative sales record illustrates the practical difficulty law enforcement agencies face in converting seized digital assets into recoverable funds.

New EU money rules arrive next summer

The disclosure comes as Ireland prepares for new EU anti-money laundering rules taking effect next summer. The regulations will ban cash payments above €10,000 and require identification of anyone paying more than €3,000 in cash. Crypto asset service providers, luxury goods vendors, and crowdfunding platforms will face strict oversight. The rules form part of the EU's broader anti-money laundering package, which also creates a new EU-level authority to supervise high-risk financial sectors, including crypto asset service providers.

Ireland presented its first national anti-money laundering strategy this month, including an action plan to strengthen defenses against cryptocurrency-related money laundering. Meanwhile, CAB is considering new legislation governing the seizure and freezing of digital assets — a step that could address the evidentiary gap around storage of keys and seed phrases highlighted by Gubbins.