Australian police to auction $13 million worth of confiscated bitcoins

Australian police will be auctioning about $13m bitcoins in Sydney on June 7.

The Australian police will auction about $13m in bitcoins in June after the digital currency was confiscated as proceeds of crime.

Ernst & Young partner Adam Nikitins said the firm is running the process and it is the second such bitcoin auction in the world after the U.S.

The first one was when Marshals Service sold 144,000 bitcoins over two years ending in 2015. The coins had been confiscated from Ross Ulbricht, the founder of online drug bazaar Silk Road.

The cache of cryptocurrency is valued at almost $13.1m based on Tuesday's bitcoin price of $533.80.

Since the bitcoin price has become less volatile after the US auctions Nikitins is expecting strong interest in the auction. He said that United States, Europe and Australia have already shown interest.

"Over the last few months, the price of bitcoins has been steadily rising and the volatility has gone out of it," he added.

The bitcoins will most likely be sold in lots of around 2,000.

Ernst & Young will be conducting the auction, and will be taking registrations from interested bidders from Wednesday until June 7. The 48-hour closed auction itself will take place from June 20.

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