German prosecutors have confiscated more than 50 million euros worth of Bitcoin from a fraudster, according to Reuters.
The fraudster had been sentenced to more than two years in jail for installing software without authorisation on other computers to harness their power to ‘mine’ or produce Bitcoin. Still, the authorities cannot unlock the money because the fraudster won’t give them the password. The man was sentenced to jail and has since served his term, maintaining his silence.
Meanwhile police made repeated failed efforts to crack the code to access more than 1,700 Bitcoins said a prosecutor in the Bavarian town of Kempten.
Bitcoin is stored on a digital wallet that is secured through encryption. A password is used as a decryption key to open the wallet and access the Bitcoin. When a password is lost the user cannot open the wallet.
Prosecutors have ensured the man cannot access the largesse, however, Reuters added.
Every day we send out a free e-mail with the most important headlines of the last 24 hours.
Subscribe now