Police get £500,000 windfall from seized Bitcoin

Cryptocurrencies are digital monetary units that are not controlled by centralised financial institutions

A police force has had a £500,000 windfall after cryptocurrency it seized went up in value.

Lancashire Police discovered that money which had been reported stolen in a major fraud case had been converted into Bitcoin.

Before the original sum could be returned to the victim, the cryptocurrency had continued to rise in value.

A force spokesman said because the law forbade paying victims more than had been stolen from them, Lancashire Police had been allowed by a court to keep half of the £1m surplus generated by the Bitcoin.

A sum of £500,000 went to the force itself while the remaining £500,000 was passed to the Home Office.

Cryptocurrencies are digital monetary units and are not controlled by centralised financial institutions.

A spokesman said the money would be "prioritised for local community projects, crime prevention programmes, and initiatives which aim to make a positive difference to deal with crime prevention and reduction".

Seized funds have previously been used to fund drones, spam call blocking devices and schemes to combat antisocial behaviour.