Court to try 2 Russians for stealing 86 bitcoins from crypto miners

Two residents of the Russian city of Tomsk are on trial for a “gross robbery” involving the theft of cryptocurrency worth several million rubles from a local miner. The digital coins were stolen from the owner at gunpoint, authorities said, adding that both criminals are now in custody.

Thieves face trial in Russia for armed robbery of cryptocurrency miners

Tomsk’s Kirovsky Court will soon try two men for their assault on another resident of the Siberian city, who made a living mining cryptocurrencies. They were able to extort coins worth more than 360 million rubles (over $4.8 million) from him at the time, Russian crypto news outlet Bits.media reported.

The crime happened in October 2021. The perpetrators attacked the cryptocurrency miner as he was leaving his home. One of them threatened him with a weapon-like object and took him back to his apartment.

Then his accomplice walked in and the two forced the victim to log into his account at a crypto exchange and gave them 86 BTC from a wallet that contained 90 BTC. It’s unclear why they decided not to withdraw the entire balance.

Russian law enforcement agencies managed to track down and arrest one of the suspects in St. Petersburg. He has since pleaded guilty and returned the fiat equivalent of some of the stolen digital cash — 35 million rubles (almost $479,000 at current exchange rates). The second man was later arrested.

The regional prosecutor’s office has charged the attackers with “robbery by a group of people on a particularly large scale” under the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation. They face up to 15 years in prison and a fine of up to 1 million rubles.

Attacks on people who own and earn cryptocurrency have increased in Russia. In July 2021, gunmen looted a large mining farm near Moscow and stole dozens of video cards used to mint digital currencies. Also last year, a crypto trader in the Russian capital was offered $1 million tether removed.

Do you think crypto-related crimes like these cases will continue to spread as cryptocurrencies become more popular? Do share your thoughts on this topic in the comments section below.

Lubomir Tassev

Lubomir Tassev is a journalist from tech-savvy Eastern Europe who likes Hitchen’s quote: “Being a writer is what I am, not what I do.” Besides Crypto, Blockchain and fintech, international politics and business are two other sources of inspiration.

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