Sweden crypto seizures have crossed $8.3 million, according to Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer, who spoke on July 4, 2025. The total reflects assets confiscated since the Swedish seizure law came into effect in November 2024.
The law allows authorities to seize luxury items, large sums of cash, and bank holdings even if the person is not the target of an official investigation. Strömmer urged police, tax authorities, and the Swedish Enforcement Authority to focus more on cases likely to involve real estate, cryptocurrency, and business assets.
“Now it’s time to turn up the pressure even more,”
Strömmer said, as quoted by Dagens industri.
Swedish authorities have been using the new legal tools to confiscate criminal profits regardless of whether formal charges are filed. This includes property linked to suspected crime but not tied to a specific individual under prosecution.
2024 Seizure Law Sweden Lets Authorities Target Unexplained Wealth
The 2024 seizure law Sweden gives enforcement powers to take property if individuals cannot explain how they obtained it. It covers physical goods like Rolex watches, high cash volumes, and digital assets including cryptocurrency.
The government explained the law’s purpose in a statement released in October 2024:
“This means that a person who, for example, has large amounts of cash, sizeable bank assets or luxury articles may forfeit them if he or she does not have an income that is proportional to the property and cannot otherwise explain where it comes from.”
In the first week of implementation, authorities seized about $1 million worth of property. Media reports from The Economist in December 2024 described one incident where a traveler at Gothenburg-Landvetter Airport lost $137,000 in cash and a watch under the new rules.
Though crypto is included in the Sweden crypto crackdown, officials have not confirmed how much of the $8.3 million in total seizures was digital currency.
Rickard Nordin Proposes Bitcoin Reserve Sweden Using Seized Crypto
In April 2025, Rickard Nordin, a Swedish lawmaker, sent a request to the Finance Ministry. He asked officials to create a Bitcoin reserve Sweden by holding rather than selling cryptocurrency seized under the new law.
Nordin referred to the United States policy signed by Donald Trump in March 2025, which created a national crypto reserve. That policy directed the U.S. government to retain Bitcoin as a strategic asset, avoiding sales of seized digital currency.
Nordin stated that Sweden asset confiscation rules could follow the same approach. He described this as budget-neutral, since the government would not need to spend taxpayer money to acquire crypto.
No official response has been issued by the Finance Ministry about the proposal.
Sweden Crypto Crackdown Expands Beyond Criminal Charges
Under the current Swedish seizure law, authorities can confiscate property based on suspicion that it came from illegal sources. This applies whether or not a person faces criminal charges. The law focuses on the origin of the asset, not the legal status of the owner.
Justice Minister Gunnar Strömmer instructed enforcement bodies to focus on seizures that bring higher returns, especially where cryptocurrency or high-value assets are involved. The government has not provided a breakdown of assets seized by type but confirmed that digital assets are part of the scope.
The Sweden crypto crackdown remains active, targeting money, goods, and crypto that cannot be justified by legal income. The 2024 law gives Swedish agencies the power to remove wealth linked to crime, with or without a prosecution.
Whether the country plans to hold or liquidate the confiscated crypto assets has not yet been detailed.