[mschuster91]

> Looks like they didn't seize anything, and he controls the coins.

That depends where the convict has stored their private wallet key - and if it is accessible to him:

- Hardware wallets can be seized by the police and thus are worthless to both - the police can't access the funds without the password, the convict can't access the funds without the wallet.

- Similarly, on-disk wallets are worthless

- Brain wallets can be used in theory, but the police would instantly know if the convict did anything with them

In any case, the police statement that they "seized" a wallet containing the Bitcoins implies that it's either a hardware or on-disk wallet and that they are aware of the public key (otherwise, how would they know how many Bitcoin are in the wallet?).

[tluyben2]

With 600m you would think you would have (a lot) of backups. And what can they do when the statute of limitations expires or he goes to a place where germany cannot touch him?

Edit: 600m

[mschuster91]

Many people don't care about opsec. As for what the cops can do... international arrest warrants on both him and the money are one thing. I can easily think that the German government has notified the exchanges about the public keys and that any attempt to trade coins originating from them would constitute some anto money laundering guideline.

Besides, there is no statute of limitations on seized assets. If anything, he'd commit a new crime (theft of government assets) by accessing them.

[midjji]

its 600M now

[GoblinSlayer]

You can also have a second well hidden "savings" wallet and send money there from the first wallet every month.