An Irish weed dealer lost close to $60 million in Bitcoin after his landlord threw away the codes to his accounts.
Clifton Collins is a former security guard turned cannabis grower and dealer. Per the Irish Times, Collins used the money he made from selling weed to buy Bitcoin in late 2011-early 2012. By 2017, he amassed 6,000 Bitcoin in one account worth $53.6 million. Fearing that he might get hacked, he decided to spread the cryptocoins across 12 different accounts. He hid the codes to these accounts inside the aluminum cap of a case containing his fishing rods.
In 2017, Collins was arrested for cannabis possession and sentenced to five years in prison. His house was broken into shortly after his arrest. This led the landlord to clean out the apartment and send his belongings—including the fishing rods—to the dump. This gear has since been moved to either Germany or China where it was incinerated.
Without the codes, Collins is locked out of the accounts. Ireland's Criminal Assets Bureau confiscated the account, but even it can't access the money without the codes. Losing nearly $60 million is enough to take its toll on anyone. Yet, Collins tells the Irish Times that he's come to terms with the loss, describing the incident as "punishment for his own stupidity."
