Seized Bitcoin Pay off 5th of Bulgaria National Debt

   

Bulgarian police have seized enough Bitcoins to pay off a fifth of the country's national debt after the value surged by 600% in half a year.

Officers are said to have confiscated hundreds of thousands of units of the virtual currency worth $500million from an organised crime gang in May.

But the surging value of Bitcoin means that the haul of 213,519 is now worth a staggering $3.3billion.

That is enough to pay off almost a quarter of Bulgaria's national debt, although it is not known what the authorities have done with the currency. 

Dozens of offenders were arrested in May following an investigation by the Southeast European Law Enforcement Center into an alleged customs fraud.

The organisation, which comprises 12 member states, said at the time: 'The offenders choose the Bitcoin way of investing/saving the money, because it is rather difficult to be tracked and followed.

The virtual currency is made up of lines of computer code which are digitally signed each time they travel from one owner to the next.

Transactions can be made anonymously, making the currency popular with libertarians as well as tech enthusiasts, speculators - and criminals. 

Originally the currency was worth just $1 per unit - although this has surged to an all-time high of more than $16,600 amid violent market swings this month.

-Dailymail