French police close bitcoin service and seize virtual currency

At the end of last week, French police dismantled an as-yet-unknown bitcoin exchange service. She also confiscated 388 virtual coins, with an estimated value of approximately 200,000 euros. This was reported by the French judiciary on Monday.

Buying or exchanging the cryptocurrency online would be against the law, as no license would have been applied for. A public prosecutor told the American news agency Reuters on Monday that it is the first time that legal action has been taken in Europe against the ‘illegal’ exchange of the virtual currency.

Police arrested three people from Cannes, Nice and Toulouse on Friday. According to Reuters, this happened after one tip from a retired agent, who came across the site. The French Le Point reports that the suspects are the administrator of the site on which the bitcoins were offered, his wife and one of the suppliers. During a search of one of the three, the police found, among other things, bitcoins. Agents also confiscated credit cards and hardware. Two of the three are still in custody for investigation. One has since been released, but it is unknown who.

The suspects are alleged to have been guilty of illegal banking and money laundering. They were reportedly involved in 2,750 transactions from November last year to this month. At least 2,500 bitcoins were used in those transactions.