German police have confiscated 50,000 bitcoin worth $2.17 billion in the country's 'most extensive' cryptocurrency seizure ever, it said in a statement on Tuesday.

"This is the most extensive seizure of bitcoins by law enforcement authorities in the Federal Republic of Germany to date," police in the city of Dresden said.

The investigation was supported by the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA), the FBI and a Munich-based forensic IT expert company, it said.

Police said ongoing investigations into commercial money laundering are directed against two suspects who ran a German piracy website until 2013.

The bitcoins were seized after the suspects voluntarily transferred them to official wallets provided by the BKA, it added.

(Reporting by Bartosz Dabrowski, editing by Matthias Williams)


Reuters