More than a decade after buying 97 Bitcoin for 10,000 euros (about $11,500) as part of a research project, Tenerife’s local council is preparing to sell the cryptocurrency for nearly 10 million euros.
BTC was purchased in 2012 by the island’s Institute of Technology and Innovation (ITER), a public technology center focused on research in renewable energy and emerging technologies, local news outlet El Día reported.
Officials said the goal was not to make money, but to study the inner workings of blockchain technology, the distributed ledger system that underpins cryptocurrencies.
The investment value has now increased by nearly 10,000%. But unloading the coins is not easy, and ITER has had Spanish banks reject the coins in previous attempts.
Instead, ITER is negotiating to execute the transaction with an unnamed Spanish financial institution regulated by the Bank of Spain and the country’s securities watchdog CNMV.
Tenerife Innovation Council member Juan José Martínez said the proceeds will fund new research projects at the ITER facility in Granadilla de Abona. The institute is currently researching areas such as quantum technology.
