Tenerife is preparing to make a nearly 100,000% profit from selling old bitcoins.
Date: 2025-11-06 Author: Gabriel Deangelo Categories: IN WORLD
The Tenerife Island Council (Canary Islands) is once again preparing to sell 97 bitcoins (BTC) purchased in 2012 by the Institute of Technology and Renewable Energy (ITER). Back then, only €10,000 was allocated for the blockchain technology experiment. Today, these coins are valued at nearly €10 million, representing a return of approximately 99,900%.
At the time, the purchase of bitcoins was considered solely as a research project aimed at exploring the potential of decentralized technologies. At that time, each BTC was worth approximately €103, but over the past 13 years, their price has increased almost a thousandfold.
According to local media, attempts to sell the cryptocurrency have been made previously, but the process was complicated by legal restrictions. Spanish regulations require special procedures for disposing of digital assets, especially if they belong to state entities. ITER is currently in the final stages of approval and expects to complete the transaction in the coming months.
Innovation Advisor Juan José Martínez emphasized that selling the bitcoins now is a logical decision. He stated that the assets, acquired exclusively for research purposes, could be used to finance the institute's new projects, including the development of quantum technologies, which are currently the focus of ITER.
The institute is currently searching for a suitable financial institution capable of conducting the transaction. Not all banks in Spain are authorized to operate with cryptocurrency, so negotiations are underway with an institution that has received official approval from the Bank of Spain and the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).
If the sale goes through, it would be one of a series of high-profile cryptocurrency transactions observed in recent months.
Meanwhile, the Bitcoin price continues to fluctuate. On November 5, 2025, according to trading data, BTC was worth approximately $103,000. After the price briefly dipped below $100,000 for the first time in four months, analysts noted a trend of profit-taking by large holders. They estimate that in October alone, so-called "whales" sold over $45 billion worth of Bitcoin.
Experts believe the wave of selling by long-term investors is driven by a desire to secure record profits after reaching an all-time high in early October, when BTC rose to $126,000.
Thus, Tenerife could become an example of how early experiments with digital assets can turn into a significant source of income, capable of funding new scientific initiatives in the region.
