Scottish court seizes bitcoin belonging to 'brains' behind machete crypto robbery: report

A Scottish court has seized £110,000 (about $144,000) worth of bitcoin from the man considered the "technical brains" behind a 2020 assault and robbery of cryptocurrency, according to the BBC.

Prosecutors seized and converted the bitcoin into physical cash, according to the report. The bitcoin belonged to John Ross Rennie, who was "convicted of possessing stolen goods."

Rennie, who guided the robbers on how to transfer the cryptocurrency, was thought to be the "brains" behind a plan that involved three men assaulting a man in his home and then coercing him to transfer his bitcoin. 

The victim "was forced to transfer cryptocurrency after waking up to find a man standing over him with a machete," the report said.

Scottish police said this was the first time they traced stolen cryptocurrency in a robbery case.