The Czech bitcoin scandal at the Ministry of Justice

What happened at the Czech Ministry of Justice? In March 2025 the Czech Ministry of Justice accepted a gift of 468 bitcoins – worth about 1 billion Czech crowns (roughly 40 million euros at the time) – from Tomáš Jiřikovský, a man previously convicted in connection with the darknet drug market Sheep Marketplace. The ministry sold the coins in auctions. When media revealed in May 2025 that the coins were traced to another darknet market, minister Pavel Blažek resigned and police opened a money-laundering investigation. In August 2026 prosecutors indicted four people, including the former minister; as of October 2026 no court has ruled and all of them are presumed innocent.

Most people who receive a billion as a gift would at least ask "from whom?". The ministry asked too – just not the question that mattered: "where have these coins been?". The blockchain, a public record that forgets nothing, had the answer all along.

Who is who#

• The Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic is in charge of courts, prisons and justice policy – the last place you would expect to find coins with a darknet past.
• Pavel Blažek was the Minister of Justice in the government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala.
• Tomáš Jiřikovský is a programmer convicted in 2017 to nine years in prison for embezzlement, drug trafficking and illegal weapons possession, in a case tied to Sheep Marketplace, a darknet market that closed in 2013 when its users' bitcoins disappeared. He was released early on parole.

Timeline#

How did the deal work?#

1. Jiřikovský's coins had been out of reach because the keys were on computers seized by police.
2. Through his lawyer, he offered the state a share of the bitcoins if he got the hardware back. In the end a court returned most of the devices.
3. The ministry signed a gift agreement: 30 % of the wallet went to the state, the rest stayed with him.
4. On 7 March 2025 the 468 BTC arrived in a wallet of the state's property office; the ministry then auctioned them.

Blažek repeatedly called the gift "ultra-legal" and argued that the coins had never been proven to come from crime. That was the weak spot: "not proven" is not the same as "checked and clean".

How was the origin of the coins discovered?#

Every bitcoin transaction is permanently written into the public blockchain. Coins have no names, but they have a history: anyone can follow them from address to address. Analysts keep databases of addresses belonging to exchanges, scams and darknet markets.

When Jiřikovský tried to sell part of his remaining bitcoins at a Prague exchange, its AML check, using chain-analysis software, showed that the coins came from wallets of Nucleus Market, a darknet market for drugs and weapons that was active in 2014–2016. The exchange reported the transaction to the Financial Analytical Office (the Czech anti-money-laundering authority), which passed it to the police. Journalists later followed the same trail on the blockchain: a wallet asleep since the darknet days suddenly moved on 6 and 7 March 2025 – and part of it went straight to the state.

The buyers who bought bitcoins from the ministry were hit too: some exchanges froze coins from the gift. In September 2025 the ministry settled with the main buyers and compensated them. In August 2025 the police seized the bitcoins the ministry had not yet sold.

What happened next?#

• Politics. Blažek resigned and did not run in the October 2025 election. The government survived a no-confidence vote.
• Criminal case. In August 2026 the Upper State Prosecutor's Office in Olomouc indicted Jiřikovský, Blažek, his former deputy and the donor's lawyer, among other things for money laundering and – for the officials – abuse of office. According to Czech media, in late August 2026, at a hearing on his custody, Jiřikovský told the court he had created and run Nucleus Market, but denied that the gift was meant to launder money. Blažek denies wrongdoing.
• As of October 2026 there is no verdict. Until a court decides, the accused are presumed innocent.

Warning signs you could have seen#

• A huge gift with no clear reason. When someone gives away a fortune in exchange for a favour, ask what they gain.
• "It hasn't been proven criminal." Absence of proof is not a clean history. With crypto, you can actually check the history.
• No analysis before acceptance. A chain-analysis report costs little compared with a billion-crown scandal.
• Warnings ignored. According to media reports, Ministry of Finance lawyers warned in writing about the money-laundering risk weeks before the deal.

Common myths#

• "Bitcoin is anonymous." It is pseudonymous. Every move is public forever, and analysts link addresses to real people.
• "Once the coins are sold, the past does not matter." The buyers of the ministry's coins found out otherwise.
• "Everyone involved is a criminal." As of October 2026 only the earlier Sheep Marketplace conviction is final. Everything else is waiting for a court.

Sources#

• Novinky.cz – indictment of four people in the bitcoin case (2026) (opens in a new tab)
• ČT24 – Chamber votes on no confidence in the government (2025) (opens in a new tab)
• ČT24 – police raid in the bitcoin case (2025) (opens in a new tab)
• iROZHLAS – court erased only three computers (2025) (opens in a new tab)
• Info.cz – Jiřikovský admits running Nucleus (2026) (opens in a new tab)