UK police raise nearly $300,000 in auction of seized cryptocurrency

Police in the U.K. raised almost $300,000 by auctioning off a convicted hacker’s cryptocurrency haul.

The crypto assets, which included bitcoin, ripple and ether, raised more than £240,000 ($295,150) when they were sold off by the U.K.’s Eastern Region Special Operations Unit (ERSOU) on Wednesday and Thursday last week.

However, Wilsons Auctions, which orchestrated the sale, said a week before the auction that the cryptocurrency had a fluctuating value of up to £500,000.

It marked the first time a British police force had auctioned any form of cryptocurrency as part of an asset recovery order. Funds raised from the sale will be reinvested in crime prevention efforts, according to the ERSOU.

More than 7,500 bids were placed on the auction which was separated into 62 different sales, Wilsons Auctions said, with bids coming from various countries including Brazil, Australia, the U.S. and Singapore. It also noted that a single…