2025 Czech government Bitcoin scandal
A political-corruption scandal in which the Czech Ministry of Justice, under minister Pavel Blažek, accepted a donation of 468 bitcoin (~$45M) in early 2025 from Tomáš Jiříkovský, a convicted darknet/drug figure, then sold part of it. After Deník N revealed the deal in May 2025, Blažek resigned, a criminal money-laundering investigation followed, and the government narrowly survived a no-confidence vote.
Also known as: 2025 Czech government Bitcoin scandal, Czech Bitcoin scandal, Czech justice ministry bitcoin donation, Investigation of 2025 Czech government Bitcoin scandal
Summary
In March 2025 the Czech Ministry of Justice accepted a donation of 468 bitcoin — worth roughly $45 million — from Tomáš Jiříkovský, previously convicted in connection with a darknet marketplace and related offenses. He reportedly offered the ministry a share of the wallet in exchange for help accessing seized coins, and then-minister Pavel Blažek agreed; the ministry sold part of the bitcoin via auction. The arrangement was revealed by the news outlet Deník N in late May 2025. [1][3]
Fallout and investigation
Blažek resigned in May 2025, denying any illegal conduct but stepping down to limit damage to the government. The affair prompted a criminal investigation focused on suspected money laundering, raids by the National Centre for Combating Organised Crime, and the detention of Jiříkovský with asset seizures. The opposition forced a no-confidence vote, which the government of PM Petr Fiala narrowly survived; a parliamentary inquiry ("Investigation of the 2025 Czech government Bitcoin scandal") examined the ministry's handling of the funds. Matters under investigation are allegations. [1][2][3]
Bracketed numbers refer to the numbered sources listed below.
Sources (3)
See also
- Gala Games exploitTokensOn May 20, 2024 an attacker abused a privileged minter account on the GALA token contract to mint 5 billion GALA (≈$200M+ nominal) and dumped ~600M of them for ~$22M of ETH before Gala froze the address. Gala Games called it an internal access-control failure; the attacker later returned the ~$22M.
- HEX / PulseChain (Richard Heart)ProjectsCrypto projects (HEX, PulseChain, PulseX) created by Richard Heart (Richard Schueler). In July 2023 the U.S. SEC sued him for offering unregistered securities that raised $1B+ and for allegedly misappropriating ~$12M for luxury goods (including a 555-carat diamond). A court dismissed the case in 2024 for lack of U.S. jurisdiction; there was no finding of wrongdoing and Heart denies the allegations.
- Ledger Connect Kit hack
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