2025 Czech government Bitcoin scandal

The 2025 Czech government Bitcoin scandal was a controversy in the Czech Republic regarding a Bitcoin donation to the country's Ministry of Justice. The independent Czech daily newspaper and digital content outlet Deník N reported that minister Pavel Blažek had accepted a Bitcoin donation, worth roughly one billion Czech Koruna at the time (approximately $45,000,000 USD), from Tomáš Jiřikovský, who had been convicted of embezzlement, drug trafficking, and illegal possession of weapons in 2017.

After being released early from prison in 2021, Jiřikovský attempted to recover the Bitcoin wallets, which had grown more valuable during his time in prison. Specifically, in 2023, he hired a lawyer acquainted with the Justice Minister to recover the devices containing the wallets, which had previously been seized in 2016. Deník N reported the suspicious bitcoin transfer to the Czech Ministry of Justice in 2025 and the Ministry was notified by the donor’s lawyer on 26 May 2025, at the latest, that the bitcoin had been seized.

Justice Minister Pavel Blažek, a member of the Civic Democratic Party, resigned on 31 May 2025. Blažek stated that he had approved the donation without verifying its origin but denied that his actions were illegal. The donation was not returned.

On 18 June 2025, 98 of the 192 MPs voted to oppose a no-confidence motion against the government of Prime Minister Petr Fiala, which was filed by the opposition party ANO. This made it the fourth no-confidence vote that the Fiala government survived since entering power in 2021.

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