Financial service firm Ernst and Young on Tuesday revealed that several auction bidders claimed 24,518 BTC ($16 million approx), as a part of an Australian bitcoin international sales process. It is the first such bitcoin auction in Australia and the second in the world after Silk Road bitcoin auction.

Last month, Australia announced bitcoin auction comprising of bitcoins worth nearly A$16 million (approximately $11.49 million) which was confiscated by the authorities. The announcement said that auction would be facilitated by Ernst & Young.

Scheduled bitcoin auction began on 20th June and ended on 21st June. Eligible bidders who provided a deposit of $250,000 and met the financial requirements to participate in the auction process, submitted bids on 11 lots of 2,000 bitcoin and one lot of approximately 2,518 bitcoin. They were able to bid on one lot or multiple lots, E&Y blog stated.

Although E&Y did not disclose the bit price paid by the bidders, it said the funds were held in a bitcoin wallet which is available publicly. This wallet, holding the funds was first identified by a bitcoin user Adam Meister on YouTube.

According to the Coindesk.com, data from blockchain data provider  Skry shows that as a part of the auction, winners claimed 13,999 BTC ($9.25m), 6,517 BTC ($4.27m)  and 1,999.99 BTC ($1.31m), with the largest winner claiming seven 2,000 BTC blocks.

“We are pleased to report that the auctions were highly successful and all bidders have been notified of the auction outcomes. The process was very competitive and demonstrates the growing appetite for digital assets such as bitcoin", Adam Nikitins, E&Y transactions partner said.

The final Silk Road bitcoin auction took place in November last year which saw 11 registered bidders compete for blocks totalling 44,000 BTC (valued at roughly $14.6m at press time).