Irish organized crime groups have adapted to the digital age, but have done so quite conservatively. Instead of complex technical solutions to protect their crypto assets, they have chosen a time-tested tool—rented bank safe deposit boxes. Criminals now store seed phrases and private keys to bitcoin wallets under lock and key in vaults, as revealed by the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) during recent investigations.
CAB chief Michael Gubbins confirmed that the agency has already passed this data to the government's anti-money laundering committee. This concerns preparations for new European Union regulation that will take effect in the summer of 2027. The new rules entail a ban on cash transactions exceeding €10,000 and mandatory identity verification for expenditures from €3,000. Enhanced oversight awaits crypto service providers, luxury goods sellers, and crowdfunding platforms. Ireland has already published its first national AML strategy in August 2026.
Analyzing the behavior of criminal groups, I see a clear pattern: they perceive cryptocurrencies as a tool to reduce the risk of confiscation, relying on the myth of complete anonymity. However, according to Gubbins, Irish criminals use digital assets surprisingly primitively, and cash still reigns supreme in drug trafficking. This suggests that the adoption of cryptocurrencies into the shadow economy is proceeding more slowly than commonly believed.
In parallel, the CAB is investigating the activities of professional money launderers, including operators of the informal hawala system. Their commission is estimated at around 6%. In one recent case, the agency seized €230,000 from a private vault deposit box. Of particular note is the largest crypto asset seizure in CAB history: in March 2026, with assistance from Europol, access was gained to the first of 12 wallets containing 6,000 BTC confiscated back in 2019. Remarkably, the private keys to these coins were written on paper and hidden in a fishing rod case, which was subsequently lost.
To date, the CAB has liquidated cryptocurrencies worth over €130 million out of a total of €360 million, and in 2025 alone returned nearly €15 million to the treasury. Irish authorities have already officially classified crypto assets as sectors with "very significant" risks of money laundering and terrorist financing.
Expert commentary: The irony of the situation is that criminals, trying to protect themselves from the digital transparency of the blockchain, are reverting to analog storage methods. However, this only confirms that regulation and law enforcement are moving in the right direction, forcing criminals to use vulnerable physical key carriers that will sooner or later fall into the hands of law enforcement.