Bitcoin Miner Blames Trading Crackdown in China for Shooting

A bitcoin miner in Taiwan is blaming the crackdown on bitcoin trading in mainland China for an incident in which he was shot by local gangsters.

According to a report from Taiwanese news source Liberty Times, the incident occurred on Saturday night, local time, when the two suspects allegedly scheduled to meet a bitcoin miner with whom they had made a significant investment.

The miner, who reportedly has the surname Wu, had previously accepted 10 million Chinese yuan (roughly $1.7 million) from the two – surnamed Li and Gao – in order to participate the bitcoin mining operation. While the exact whereabouts of the mining facility remains unknown, the report hinted that the location could be inside mainland China.

Despite having made some $370,000 in profit, Wu claimed in the report that due to tightened regulations on bitcoin trading in China, the profit could not be exchanged for fiat currency in time, as per the two gangsters' demands – a factor that sparked a dispute at the meeting.

As things got heated, Wu was reportedly shot in the ankle. The gangsters fled the crime scene, but turned themselves into the police seven hours after the event. The police later confirmed the suspects were from local gangs, the report stated.

Though it isn't the first instance of a crime alleged to have involved bitcoin in Taiwan, the case appears notable for the involvement of participants in organized crime.

The news also marks another incident in which the surging price of bitcoin over the past year has led to crimes involving armed assailants. As reported by CoinDesk, two cases in Canada and the U.K. in January saw thieves robbing bitcoin investors at gunpoint.

And, just last week, Singapore's police force reported a case in which bitcoin brokers were robbed of some $300,000.

Bitcoin and bullet image via Shutterstock