Irish Gangs Are Renting Private Vaults to Hide Crypto Keys

In brief

• Ireland’s Criminal Assets Bureau says gangs store crypto wallet seed phrases and private keys in rented vaults alongside cash, watches and passports.
• It has reported the practice to the government committee preparing Ireland for new EU anti-money laundering rules.
• Cash still dominates, and the bureau's chief says criminal use of crypto in Ireland remains “basic.”

Organized crime gangs in Ireland are renting vaults to store the private keys and seed phrases that control crypto wallets, alongside cash, luxury watches and handbags, the head of the Criminal Assets Bureau has said.

Detective Chief Superintendent Michael Gubbins, who runs the bureau, the Irish state's asset-seizure agency, told the Sunday Independent the practice emerged from its own investigations and has been reported to the government's Anti-Money Laundering Steering Committee.

Vault contents, he said, "could be cryptocurrency keys or cash or watches or could even be passports." He added: "Again, it's from our experience, what we would have seen around those matters."

The committee is preparing Ireland for EU rules due next summer that will ban cash transactions above €10,000 and require businesses to identify anyone spending €3,000 or more in cash. Crypto-asset service providers, luxury goods retailers and crowdfunding platforms all face tighter supervision. Ireland published its first national anti-money laundering strategy last month, following an action plan that tightened crypto safeguards.